Who really said it
CliffsNotes on Heller’s Catch-22, discussion of chapter 26
Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?
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Disputed credit — copy with the correction
“The end result of experiencing terror and injury is not an increase in compassion, but a tendency toward callousness” — CliffsNotes commentary on Catch-22, credited to C. A. Peek, not Joseph Heller; exact passage identified via Wikiquote and not directly inspected.
The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Joseph Heller. Use the credit shown above instead.
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In context
Evoking the world of C. A. Peek — Study guide author. Theme: "The end result of experiencing terror and injury is not an increase in compassion, but a tendency toward callousness". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
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Provenance
The end result of experiencing terror and injury Short excerpt
How we verified this
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Fact-check
Wikiquote identifies the sentence as CliffsNotes commentary rather than Catch-22; the guide’s catalog credits C. A. Peek, but the passage was not directly accessible.
Wikiquote identifies this as study guide commentary rather than a sentence in Catch-22. The exact commentary page was not accessible.
Context
Catch-22 is a novel about war, bureaucracy and the predicament of its airmen. A study guide’s statement about the effects of terror is an interpretation of that fiction, even when it sounds like an aphorism that might belong in the novel. Keeping a critic’s commentary separate from a novelist’s words is the central distinction in this attribution.
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Explicitly identifies the saying as chapter-26 CliffsNotes commentary, not a sentence from Heller’s novel.
Credits CliffsNotes on Heller’s Catch-22 to C. A. Peek; bibliographic evidence, not inspection of the passage.
Describes the novel’s wartime setting and satirical treatment of military bureaucracy; context only.
Documents Heller’s authorship of Catch-22 and its 1961 publication; does not attribute the commentary sentence to him.
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CliffsNotes on Heller’s Catch-22, discussion of chapter 26.
Quotle.info. Who really said 'The end result of experiencing terror and injury is not an increase in compassion, but a tendency toward callousness'? Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-end-result-of-experiencing-terror-and-injury-is-not-an/