“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. 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.”

Harper Lee, pg. 34

“I’m afraid our activities would be received with considerable disapprobation by the more learned authorities.”

Harper Lee, pg. 36

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

Harper Lee, pg. 64

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

Harper Lee, pg. 80

“Wonder why he never goes huntin’ now,” I said.
“Maybe I can tell you,” said Miss Maudie. “If your father’s anything, he’s civilized at heart. Marksmanship’s a gift of God, a talent- oh, you have to practice to make it perfect, but shootin’s different from playing the piano or the like. I think maybe he put his gun down when he realized God had given him an unfair advantage over most living things. I guess he decided he wouldn’t shoot till he had to, and he had to today.”
“Looks like he’d be proud of it,” I said.
“People in their right minds never take pride in their talents,” said Miss Maudie.

Harper Lee, pg. 102

“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 you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.”

Harper Lee, pg. 116

I said that I would like it very much, which was a lie, but one must lie under certain circumstances, and at all times when one can’t do anything about them.

Harper Lee, pg. 131

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

Harper Lee, pg. 203

“You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.”

Harper Lee, pg. 207

“How could they do it, how could they?”
“I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done is and they’ll do it again and when they do it- seems that only children weep. Good night.”

Harper Lee, pg. 215

“Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”
Jem turned around and punched his pillow. When he settled back his face was cloudy. He was going into one of his declines, and I grew wary. His browns came together; his mouth became a thin line. He was silent for a while.
“That’s what I thought, too,” he said at last, “when I was your age. If there’s just one kind of folks, why can’t they get along with each other? If they’re all alike , why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I’m beginning to understand something. I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside.”

Harper Lee, pg. 230

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

Harper Lee, pg. 246