J. D. Salinger Quotes

Quotes about:

• The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.

  J. D. Salinger

  Growing Up, Maturity, Men

  J.D. Salinger (1951). “The Catcher in the Rye”

  51 Copy quote

• One day a long time from now you'll cease to care anymore whom you please or what anybody has to say about you. That's when you'll finally produce the work you're capable of.

  J. D. Salinger

  Long, One Day, Care

  "Other People's Secrets" by Joyce Maynard, www.sfgate.com. September 13, 1998.

  88 Copy quote

• The world is full of actors pretending to be human

  J. D. Salinger

  Actors, World, Pretending

  49 Copy quote

• Make sure you marry someone who laughs at the same things you do.

  J. D. Salinger

  Laughing

  79 Copy quote

• Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them—if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.

  J. D. Salinger

  Beautiful, Confused, Mean

  J. D. SALINGER (1951). “THE CATCHER IN THE RYE”

  55 Copy quote

• She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.

  J. D. Salinger

  Girl, Reading, Together

  "A Girl I Knew". Short story by J. D. Salinger, 1948.

  81 Copy quote

• All morons hate it when you call them a moron.

  J. D. Salinger

  Hate, Catchers, Holden

  J. D. SALINGER (1951). “THE CATCHER IN THE RYE”

  59 Copy quote

• It's partly true, too, but it isn't all true. People always think something's all true.

  J. D. Salinger

  Thinking, People, Holden

  J. D. SALINGER (1951). “THE CATCHER IN THE RYE”

  6 Copy quote

• Happiness is a solid and joy is a liquid.

  J. D. Salinger

  Joy, Liquid

  J. D. SALINGER (1968). “FOR ESME- WITH LOVE AND SQUALOR”

  10 Copy quote

• I’ll read my books and I’ll drink coffee and I’ll listen to music, and I’ll bolt the door.

  J. D. Salinger

  Coffee, Book, Doors

  49 Copy quote

• Know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly

  J. D. Salinger

  Mind, Dresses, Measurement

  J. D. SALINGER (1951). “THE CATCHER IN THE RYE”

  23 Copy quote

• Most stuff that is genuine is better left unsaid.

  J. D. Salinger

  Stuff, Unsaid, Genuine

  "Unsealed Letters Offer Glimpse of Salinger" by Alison Leigh Cowan, www.nytimes.com. February 11, 2010.

  22 Copy quote

• It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.

  J. D. Salinger

  Literature, Want, Holden Caulfield

  J. D. SALINGER (1951). “THE CATCHER IN THE RYE”

  60 Copy quote

• I am a kind of paranoid in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.

  J. D. Salinger

  Inspirational, Happiness, Happy

  65 Copy quote

• I have so much I want to tell you, and nowhere to begin.

  J. D. Salinger

  Want

  13 Copy quote

• Hell is the suffering of being unable to love.

  J. D. Salinger

  Inspirational, Being In Love, Inability To Love

  32 Copy quote

• Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.

  J. D. Salinger

  Running, Hope, Crazy

  Catcher in the Rye (1951) ch. 22

  63 Copy quote

• Girls. You never know what they're going to think.

  J. D. Salinger

  Girl, Night, Thinking

  J. D. SALINGER (1951). “THE CATCHER IN THE RYE”

  8 Copy quote

• If you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.

  J. D. Salinger

  Beautiful, Human Behavior, Offers

  J.D. Salinger (1951). “The Catcher in the Rye”

  36 Copy quote

• I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.

  J. D. Salinger

  Love, Life, Courage

  j.d. salinger (1961). “franny and zooey”

  12 Copy quote

• What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.

  J. D. Salinger

  Book, Reading, Memorable

  Catcher in the Rye (1951) ch. 3

  17 Copy quote

• I'm up to my ears in unwritten words.

  J. D. Salinger

  Ears, Written Word, Unwritten

  18 Copy quote

• An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's.

  J. D. Salinger

  Art, Writing, Perfection

  j.d. salinger (1961). “franny and zooey”

  18 Copy quote

• I’m just sick of ego, ego, ego. My own and everybody else’s. I’m sick of everybody that wants to get somewhere, do something distinguished and all, be somebody interesting. It’s disgusting.

  J. D. Salinger

  Truth, Sick, Interesting

  "Franny and Zooey". Book by J. D. Salinger, www.huffingtonpost.com. 1961.

  35 Copy quote

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

  J. D. Salinger

  Funny, Memorable, Missing

  J.D. Salinger (1951). “The Catcher in the Rye”

  46 Copy quote

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