Harper Lee

Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in.

Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.

Don’t talk like that, Dill, said Aunt Alexandra. It’s not becoming to a child. It’s – cynical.I ain’t cynical, Miss Alexandra. Tellin’ the truth’s not cynical, is it?The way you tell it, it is.

Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself...It's a self-exploratory operation that is endless. An exorcism of not necessarily his demon, but of his divine discontent.

Prejudice, a dirty word, and faith, a clean one, have something in common: they both begin where reason ends.

As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, 'I'm probably no better than you, but I'm certainly your equal.

It’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you.

With him, life was routine; without him, life was unbearable.

I wonder how much of the day I spend just callin' after you.

Some negroes lie, some are immoral, some negro men are not be trusted around women - black and white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.

When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion faster than adults, and evasion simply muddles 'em.

Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.