J. D. Salinger Quotes

I thought what I'd do was I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.

What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory.

If you're not in
the mood, you can't do that stuff right.

I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible.

Boy, did he depress me! I don't mean he was a bad guy- he wasn't. But you don't have to be bad guy to depress somebody- you can be a good guy and do it.

"This is a people shooting hat," I said. "I shoot people in this hat."

"Don't tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

- Holden Caulfield
The Catcher in the Rye

I don’t even like old cars. I mean, they don’t even interest me at all. I'd rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human

That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can.

He had a theory, Walt did, that the religious life, and all the agony that goes with it, is just something God sicks on people who have the gall to accuse him of having created an ugly world.

It's one of those places that are supposed to be very sophisticated and all, and the phonies are coming in the window.

Seymour once said that all we do our whole lives is go from one little piece of Holy Ground to the next. Is he ever wrong?

Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.

Liberate yourself from my vice-like grip!

That cat was a spy. You had to take a pot shot at it. It was a very clever German midget dressed up in a cheap fur coat.