98 Powerful Harper Lee Quotes That You Will Never Forget

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.

Never

  

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

Never

  

People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.

  

The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.

  

Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts.

Me

  

I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.

Think

  

Atticus, he was real nice." "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.

  

People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.

Never

  

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.

Like , Never

  

With him, life was routine; without him, life was unbearable.

Life

  

You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don't you let 'em get your goat. Try fightin' with your head for a change. -Atticus Finch

  

Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

  

When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion faster than adults, and evasion simply muddles 'em.

  

It’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you.

Never

  

Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.

  

I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year. Scout

  

Pass the damn ham, please.

  

We're paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It's that simple.

  

You can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family, an' they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don't.

Family

  

There are just some kind of men who-who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.

Never

  

It's not time to worry yet

Time

  

Things are always better in the morning.

  

Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'.

  

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.

  

They've done it before and they'll do it again and when they do it -- seems that only the children weep. Good night.

  

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.

  

Ladies in bunches always filled me with vague apprehension and a firm desire to be elsewhere.

Me

  

Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

  

Prejudice, a dirty word, and faith, a clean one, have something in common: they both begin where reason ends.

  

As a reader I loathe introductions...Introductions inhibit pleasure, they kill the joy of anticipation, they frustrate curiosity.

  

That boy is your company. And if he wants to eat up that tablecloth, you let him, you hear?

  

There are some men in this world who are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father's one of them.

  

Things are never as bad as they seem.

Never

  

There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible.

Never

  

Are you proud of yourself tonight that you have insulted a total stranger whose circumstances you know nothing about?

Yourself

  

She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl.

Me , Think

  

Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they're not attracting attention with it.

Time

  

Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

  

Try fighting with your head for a change... it's a good one, even if it does resist learning.

  

Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience. There is no such thing as a collective conscious.

  

I don't want to hear any words like that while I'm here. Scout, you'll get in trouble if you go around saying things like that. You want to grow up to be a lady, don't you?' I said not particularly.

Like

  

I'm little but I'm old.

  

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—” “Sir?” “—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

Never

  

Dill?" Mm?" Why do you reckon Boo Radleys never run off?" Dill sighed a long sigh and turned away from me. Maybe he doesn't have anywhere to run off to

Never

  

See there?" Jem was scowling triumphantly. "Nothin' to it. I swear, Scout, sometimes you act so much like a girl its mortifyin

Like

  

He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.

  

[T]he time your friends need you is when they’re wrong, Jean Louise. They don’t need you when they’re right

Time

  

Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in.

  

Some negroes lie, some are immoral, some negro men are not be trusted around women - black and white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.

  

A man can condemn his enemies, but it’s wiser to know them.

  

I wonder how much of the day I spend just callin' after you.

  

You can't really get to know a person until you get in their shoes and walk around in them.

  

As sure as time, history is repeating itself, and as sure as man is man, history is the last place he’ll look for his lessons.

Time

  

I shall never marry, Atticus." "Why?" "I might have children.

Never

  

The book to read is not the one that thinks for you but the one which makes you think.

Think

  

Remember this also: it’s always easy to look back and see what we were, yesterday, ten years ago. It is hard to see what we are. If you can master that trick, you’ll get along.

  

There's just some kind of men you have to shoot before you can say hidy to 'em. Even then, they ain't worth the bullet it takes to shoot 'em.

  

Cry about the simple hell people give other people- without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people too.

Think

  

Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I’ve tried to live so I can look squarely back at him.

Me

  

I don't know, but they did it. They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it--seems that only children weep.

  

Scout, I´m telling you for the last time, shut your trap or go home - I declare to the Lord you´re gettin´ more like a girl every day!” With that, I had no option but to join them.

Like , Time

  

People don’t like to have somebody knowing more than they do. It aggravates them.

Like

  

Turtles don't feel, stupid," said Jem. "Were you ever a turtle, huh?

  

I never loved reading until I feared I would lose it. One does not love breathing.

Never

  

You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

  

When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

  

If you did not want much, there was plenty.

  

Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

  

Everybody’s gotta learn, nobody’s born knowing.

  

I need a watchman to tell me this is what a man says but this is what he means, to draw a line down the middle and say here is this justice and there is that justice and make me understand the difference.

Me

  

You see they could never, never understand that I live like I do because that's the way I want to live.

Like , Never

  

Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives.

  

Nothin’s real scary except in books.

  

One must lie under certain circumstances and at all times when one can't do anything about them.

  

I try to give'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason.

  

Don’t you study about other folks’s business till you take care of your own.

  

They're ugly, but those are the facts of life.

Life

  

I'm Charles Baker Harris...I can read

  

Talking to Francis gave me the sensation of settling slowly to the bottom of the ocean.

Me

  

In Maycomb, if one went for a walk with no definite purpose in mind, it was correct to believe one's mind incapable of definite purpose.

  

Autumn was her happiest season.

  

Sometimes we have to kill a little so we can live.

  

Sometimes it’s better to bend the law a little in special cases.

  

Finders were keepers unless title was proven.

  

Clowns are sad, it's folks that laugh at them." "Well, I'm gonna be a new kind of clown. I'm gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks.

  

I came to the conclusion that people were just peculiar, I withdrew from them, and never thought about them until I was forced to.

Never

  

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.

Never , Time

  

You can pet him, Mr. Arthur. He's asleep...

  

Long ago, in a burst of friendliness, Aunty and Uncle Jimmy produced a son named Henry…

  

I didn't know how you were going to do it, but from now on I'll never worry about what'll become of you, son, you'll always have an idea.

Never

  

Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.

  

In other words, all I want to be is the Jane Austen of south Alabama

  

I just thought you'd like to know I can read. You got anything needs readin' I can do it.

Like

  

Don’t push her. Let her go at her own speed. Push her and every mule in the county’d be easier to live with.

  

When stalking one’s prey, it is best to take one’s time. Say nothing, and as sure as eggs he will become curious and emerge.

Time

  

Nothing is more deadly than a deserted, waiting street.

  

Go away, the old buildings said. There is no place for you here. You are not wanted. We have secrets.

  

I was taught never to take advantage of anybody who was less fortunate than myself, whether he be less fortunate in brains, wealth, or social position; it meant anybody...

Never