Miss Maudie: “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets.” 46

Atticus: “This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience-Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.” 104

Atticus: “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.” 112

Calpernia: “It is not necessary to tell all you know. It’s not ladylike- in the second place, folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do. It aggravates ’em. You’re not gonna change any of them by talkin’ right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.” 126

Scout: “Somewhere, I had received the impression that Fine Folks were people who did the best they could with the sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was.” 130

Reverend Sykes: “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.” 211

Atticus: “So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I’d rather it be me than that houseful of children out there.” 211

Atticus: “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.” 220

Aunt Alexendra: “‘Don’t be silly, Jean Louise,’ said Aunt Alexandra. ‘The thing is, you can scrub Walter Cunningham till her shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he’ll never be like Jem. Besides, there’s a drinking streak in that family a mile wide. Finch women aren’t interested in that sort of people.'” 224

Scout: “Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” 227

ON THIS WEBSITE ARE LINKS TO MORE QUOTES FROM “TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD”

Quotes From Scout Finch

Maycomb was a tired old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it. Somehow, it was hotter then. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning; ladies bathed before noon, after their 3 o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting from sweating and sweet talcum. The day was twenty-four hours long, but it seemed longer.

There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go and nothing to buy… and no money to buy it with. Although Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself… That summer, I was six years old.

There just didn’t seem to be anyone or anything Atticus couldn’t explain. Though it wasn’t a talent that would arouse the admiration of any of our friends, Jem and I had to admit he was very good at that — but that was all he was good at… we thought.

Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fightin’ any more. I was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be.

This night my mind was filled with Halloween — there was to be a pageant representing our county’s agricultural products; I was to be a ham. Jem said he would escort me to the school auditorium. Thus began our longest journey together.

Neighbours bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between. Boo was our neighbour. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives.

1.Don’t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house, they are company and don’t let me catch you remarking on their ways like you were so high and mighty.

2.Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fightin’ any more. I was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be.

3. This night my mind was filled with Halloween — there was to be a pageant representing our county’s agricultural products; I was to be a ham. Jem said he would escort me to the school auditorium. Thus began our longest journey together.

4.Neighbours bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between. Boo was our neighbour. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives.

5. Don’t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house, they are company and don’t let me catch you remarking on their ways like you were so high and mighty.

6. That boy is your company. And if he wants to eat up that tablecloth, you let him, you hear? And if you can’t act fit to eat like folks, you can just set here and eat in the kitchen.

7. Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

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

9. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.

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

11. Best way to clear the air is to have it all out in the open

12. I’m going to be a new kind of clown. I’m going to stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/quotes

by Harper Lee About 77 pages (23,096 words)

To Kill a Mockingbird Summary

Quotes

Quote 1: “I told Calpurnia to just wait, I’d fix her: one of these days when she wasn’t looking I’d go off and drown myself in Barker’s Eddy and then she’d be sorry. Besides, I added, she’d already gotten me in trouble once today: she had taught me to write and it was all her fault.” Chapter 3, pg. 29

Quote 2: “cootie” Chapter 3, pg. 30

Quote 3: “It was then, I suppose, that Jem and I first began to part company. Sometimes I did not understand him, but my periods of bewilderment were short-lived.” Chapter 6, pg. 61

Quote 4: “pass the damn ham, please” Chapter 9, pg. 83

Quote 5: “that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that … I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year . . . . but when I asked Atticus about it, he said there were already enough sunbeams in the family and to go on about my business, he didn’t mind me much the way I was.” Chapter 9, pg. 86

Quote 6: “‘******-lover'” Chapter 9, pg. 87

Quote 7: “‘whore-lady'” Chapter 9, pg. 89

Quote 8: “I never figured out how Atticus knew I was listening, and it was not until many years later that I realized he wanted me to hear every word he said.” Chapter 9, pg. 93

Quote 9: “‘Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.

They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.'” Chapter 10, pg. 94

Quote 10: “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.” Chapter 11, pg. 105

Quote 11: “‘The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.'” Chapter 11, pg. 109

Quote 12: “‘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.'” Chapter 11, pg. 116

Quote 13: “know[s] now what he was trying to do, but Atticus was only a man. It takes a woman to do that kind of work.” Chapter 13, pg. 137

Quote 14: “‘What did your father see in the window, the crime of rape or the best defense to it?'” Chapter 18, pg. 190

Quote 15: “Maycomb gave [the Ewells] Christmas baskets, welfare money, and the back of its hand.” Chapter 19, pg. 194

Quote 16: “‘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.'” Chapter 22, pg. 215

Quote 17: “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” Chapter 25, pg. 244

Quote 18: “‘Hey, Boo.'” Chapter 29, pg. 273

Quote 19: “‘There’s a black boy dead for no reason, and the man responsible for it’s dead. Let the dead bury the dead this time….'” Chapter 30, pg. 278

Quote 20: “‘[m]ost people are, Scout, when you finally see them.'” Chapter 31, pg. 284

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