“He was going to live forever, or die in the attempt.”
Source: Catch-22
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Joseph Heller132
American author 1923–1999Related quotes
“Study as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow.”
Maria Mitchell (1818–1889) American astronomer
The Book of Positive Quotations By John Cook, Leslie Ann Gibson (2nd ed. 2007), p. 283.
Attributed
“I was going to die and it was taking forever.”
Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer
Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You
“A man should live forever, or die trying.”
Spider Robinson book Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (1977) "A voice is heard in Ramah"
Off the Wall at Callahan's (2004)
Variant: A person should live forever, or die trying.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India
Variant on aphorism "Study as if you were to live forever. Live as if you were to die tomorrow" pre-dating Gandhi, variously attributed to Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 636), in FPA Book of Quotations (1952) by Franklin Pierce Adams, to Edmund Rich (1175–1240) in American Journal of Education (1877), or to Alain de Lille in Samuel Smiles's Duty https://books.google.com/books?id=33UzAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA363&dq=live+die+tomorrow+learn+forever&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd3s_2m57MAhWFMGMKHe-sAl8Q6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=live%20die%20tomorrow%20learn%20forever&f=false (1881). <br class="br">The 1995 book "The good boatman: a portrait of Gandhi," states that Gandhi subscribed "to the view that a man should live thinking he might die tomorrow but learn as if he would live forever." <br class="br">In his 2010 Boyer lecture Glyn Davis (Professor of Political Science and Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University) attributes the quote to Desiderius Erasmus. "He [Erasmus] reworked Pliny to urge 'live as if you are to die tomorrow, study as if you were to live forever'. Many students obey the first clause - the best heed both." <br class="br">There is a similar quote by Johann Gottfried Herder: "Mensch, genieße dein Leben, als müssest morgen du weggehn; Schone dein Leben, als ob ewig du weiletest hier." ["Man, enjoy your life as if you were to depart tomorrow; spare your life as if you were to linger here forever."] (Zerstreute Blätter, 1785). <br class="br">Disputed
“Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.”
John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach
They Call Me Coach (1972)
“I'm going to get that bloody bastard if I die in the attempt.”
James Clavell book King Rat
Part 1, Ch. 1, Lt. Grey, First line of the story.
King Rat (1962)