Quotes: Character (13)

The idea in the bold-face print is a summary of the quote. The number is the page on which the quote was found.

Character
Character 416 Someone else's clear position helps offset doubts. "…she’d have a clear position he could set against his doubts…." DeLillo, Underworld.

Character 592 Conducting oneself unsentimentally in the world. "I have to admire them…because they understand the logic of how to conduct yourself unsentimentally in the world." DeLillo, Underworld.

Character 724 Whether he chose his way of life or not, he accepted it. "Maybe it was his choice to live this way and maybe it wasn’t but either way he made it seem all right." DeLillo, Underworld.

Character 19 An all-American boy whom everybody liked. "Appleby was a fair-haired boy from Iowa who believed in God, Motherhood, and the American Way of Life, without thinking about any of them, and everybody who knew him liked him." Heller, Catch-22.

Character 177 Collected lists of fatal diseases in alphabetical order. "Hungry Joe collected lists of fatal diseases and arranged them in alphabetical order so that he could put his finger without delay on any one he wanted to worry about." Heller, Catch-22.

Character 193 He calculated intensely in order to serve himself. "Colonel Cathcart was indefatigable that way, an industrious, intense, dedicated military tactician who calculated day and night in the service of himself." Heller, Catch-22.

Character 193 He made a terrible impression on important people who barely knew he was alive. "…brooded inconsolably over the terrible ineradicable impressions he knew he kept making on people of prominence who were scarcely aware that he was even alive." Heller, Catch-22.

Character 193 He lived in imaginary triumphs and imaginary catastrophes. "Colonel Cathcart lived by his wits in an unstable, arithmetical world…of overwhelming imaginary triumphs and catastrophic imaginary defeats." Heller, Catch-22.

Character 193 "He oscillated hourly between anguish and exhilaration, multiplying fantastically the grandeur of his victories and exaggerating tragically the seriousness of his defeats." Heller, Catch-22.

Character 193 If he saw important people frowning or smiling, he could not rest until he had satisfactorily interpreted the facial expression. "If word reached him that General Dreedle or General Peckem had been seen smiling, frowning, or doing neither, he could not make himself rest until he had found an acceptable interpretation…." Heller, Catch-22.