Holden Quotes

• It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or anything, and you felt like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road.

  J. D. Salinger

  Crazy, Sun, Afternoon

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

  23 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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. I know it's crazy.

  J. D. Salinger

  Crazy, Catchers, Catching

  Catcher in the Rye (1951) ch. 22

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.

  J. D. Salinger

  Life, Change, Glasses

  "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger, (Ch. 16), 1951.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• If a body catch a body coming through the rye.

  J. D. Salinger

  Body, Catchers, Catching

  Catcher in the Rye (1951) ch. 22

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  J. D. Salinger

  Liars, Memorable, Magazines

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

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• I was trying to feel some kind of good-bye. I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don’t care if it’s a sad good-bye or a bad good-bye, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t you feel even worse.

  J. D. Salinger

  Goodbye, Hate, School

  9 Copy quote

• It's really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes.

  J. D. Salinger

  Fun, Stuff, Sometimes

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

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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”

  45 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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

  54 Copy quote

  Show source

• Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead?

  J. D. Salinger

  Death, Hope, Flower

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

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.

  J. D. Salinger

  War, Swear To God, Volunteer

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

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• I don't even like old cars. I'd rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God's sake.

  J. D. Salinger

  Horse, Car, Literature

  Catcher in the Rye (1951) ch. 17

  58 Copy quote

  Show source

• I kept picturing all these little kids in this big field of rye... If they're running and they don't look where they're going, I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.

  J. D. Salinger

  Running, Inspiration, Kids

  'The Catcher in the Rye' (1951) ch. 22.

  20 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.

  J. D. Salinger

  Liars, Lying, Literature

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

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

  J. D. Salinger

  Truth, Childhood, Parent

  'The Catcher in the Rye' (1951) ch. 1

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Money always ends up making you blue.

  J. D. Salinger

  Money, Blue, Catchers

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

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  J. D. Salinger

  Suicide, Stupid, Jumping

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

  51 Copy quote

  Show source

• William Holden and I weren't just good friends. He was my very best friend. I feel his loss very much still.

  Glenn Ford

  Friendship, Loss, Good Friend

  52 Copy quote

• You never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were.

  J. D. Salinger

  Hands, Worried, Jane

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

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• I don't even know what I was running for—I guess I just felt like it.

  J. D. Salinger

  Running, Knows, Felt

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

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Its really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs.

  J. D. Salinger

  People, Literature, Suitcases

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

  82 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  J. D. Salinger

  Hate, Catchers, Moron

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

  48 Copy quote

  Show source

• I live in New York, and I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go? I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away.

  J. D. Salinger

  Zoos, New York, Home

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

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? Nobody.

  J. D. Salinger

  Girl, Giving, Looks

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

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  J. D. Salinger

  Thinking, People, True People

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

  5 Copy quote

  Show source