Mockingbird Quotes

“Self-pity is a sin. It is a form of living suicide.”
― Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

“To be a serious writer requires discipline that is iron fisted. It’s sitting down and doing it whether you think you have it in you or not. Everyday. Alone. Without interruption. Contrary to what most people think, there is no glamour to writing. In fact, it’s heartbreak most of the time. --Harper Lee”
― Charles Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

“She just wanted to be comfortable in her own skin...But she would not stop to seek others' approval. The notion that she should never seemed to enter her head. Her right to live as she pleased was not up for negotiation, even if it ran against the grain of the milieu at Huntingdon.”
― Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

“I must write…I like to write. Sometimes I’m afraid that I like it too much because when I get into work I don’t want to leave it. As a result I’ll go for days without leaving the house or wherever I happen to be. I’ll go out long enough to get papers and pick up some food and that’s it. It’s strange, but instead of hating writing I love it too much. --Harper Lee”
― Charles Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

“It’s absolutely essential that a writer know himself, for until he knows his abilities and limitations, his talents and problems, he will be unable to produce anything of real value. Secondly, you must be able to look coldly at what you do. The writer must know for whom he writes, why he writes, and if his writing says what he means for it to say. Writing is, in a way, a contest of knowing, of seeing the dream, of getting there, and of achieving what you set out to do. The simplest way to reach this goal is to simply say what you mean as clearly and precisely as you know how.--Harper Lee”
― Charles Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

“I think part of your success lies in the shock of recognition- or as the Japanese might say, 'the unexpected recognition of the faithful "suchness" of very ordinary things'.”
― Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

“The Kansas state motto, "Ad astra per aspera" - To the stars through difficulties. ”
― Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

“You took her as she was. She wasn't trying to impress anyone," said Claude Nunnelly.”
― Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

“At home, he (A.C. Lee) encouraged Nelle to clamber up on him lap to "help" him read the newspaper or complete the crossword puzzle.”
― Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

“The irony is, if we divide ourselves for our own comfort, no one will have comfort.”
― Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee