Please do remember that she was Rear Admiral Grace T Hopper and her grandfather was an Admiral as well--I suspect that she gained this phrase from the military mindset. Catch 22 comes awfully close sometimes, and Weller was writing that about World War II.
I wish she were more remembered for her backward clocks and the fact that she would let you have it if your answer was "Because that's the way we've always done it."
And, while she may not have originated the word "bug" for a computer problem, she was probably the first to document an actual insect causing a problem in a computer:
I'm not necessarily a big fan of the "Ask forgiveness rather than permission" route as it only really works when the result either direction doesn't really impact anybody further than the person carrying out the action.
I currently have to step over a half-dozen bicycles every morning because some venture capital funded companies decided permission was just too difficult, and I hope they don't get forgiven and have to pay really expensive fines for not obtaining permission.
I think the outcome where the bicycles exist and the company pays a fine is way better than the outcome where they ask permission and no one gets to use the bicycles.
I'm pretty confident that social pressure or technology can solve the littering issue, too, leaving forgiveness approach with no drawbacks at all. I would be happy to step over the bicycles, seeing it as a sign of an actual innovation in society that people are really using and benefiting from.
Write a compiler, then feel free to come up with your own idioms.