Context

Welcome to the world of Catch-22. It's precisely as ironic as it sounds.

Yossarian and the crew are on leave in Rome where Nately has fallen in love with a prostitute. When they head off to her brothel, Nately is confronted by a lecherous old man, who makes some rather unpatriotic remarks that offend Nately. Nately, of course, begins to argue with him. He grows continually more flustered as everything he says the old man turns on its head...just like in this quote.

Where you've heard it

This line from the old man not only sums up his entire cynical perspective (which serves as a direct opposite of the naïve optimism of Nately), but also captures the viewpoint of Yossarian, who, like the old man, tries to avoid danger at all costs.

Nately is super patriotic. He believes that America is worth dying for because it is worth living for. But the old man? Not so much. Critiquing not only Nately but also war itself, he creates an inverse of the saying—and it seems to make a lot more sense.

Then again, he's 107 years old, likens the United States to a frog, and thinks it's much more profitable to lose wars than to win them. If that all makes sense (which it kinda does if you follow his catch-22-esque logic), then who's really the crazy one?

…Besides Yossarian, of course.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

On the surface, it may seem like a sensible quote that isn't going to cause any problems.

But let's be real: this quote is purely a comeback to Nately's adage of dying for what you believe in, making it a pretty cynical and pessimistic thing to say.

Plus, sometimes (like in, uh, war), living for something isn't an option; it's either die for it or lose it. So while the quote itself is simple enough, mocking self-sacrifice is going to get this quote a few notches higher on our pretentious scale.

Of course, if following this philosophy puts you at 107 years old, we guess you'll be having the last, sacrilegious laugh.