quotes by Harper Lee

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read.
One does not love breathing."
— Harper Lee

""I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." -Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird"
— Harper Lee

"They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience. ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11, spoken by the character Atticus

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— Harper Lee

""..You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.." [To Kill a Mockingird, 1960]"
— Harper Lee

"I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks. ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 23, spoken by the character Scout
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— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

""Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself...It's a self-exploratory operation that is endless. An exorcism of not necessarily his demon, but of his divine discontent.""
— Harper Lee

"Atticus said to Jem one day, ‘I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’ That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. ‘Your father’s right,’ she said. ‘Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’"
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

""...Atticus, he was real nice...."
"Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.""
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

"It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived. ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, "
— Harper Lee

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of thinking it's a man with a gun in his hand. Real courage is knowing you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through to the end no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

"Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts."
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird... Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow."
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

"I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks."
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

""Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” Harper Lee in To Kill A Mockingbird
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— Harper Lee

"Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'."
— Harper Lee

"People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for. "
— Harper Lee

"Summer, and he watches his children's heart break. Autumn again and Boo's children needed him. Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough."
— Harper Lee

"The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience."
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if can hit 'em, but rmember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
— Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)