Atticus Finch

"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

"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, that white man is trash."

"I hope Jem and Scout's children will be children when they grow up."

"It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through."

"Bad language is a stage all children go through."

"I'm simply defending the real love of my life."

"The witnesses for the state have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this town, to this state, without coming to grips with this case at all."

"Gentlemen, a court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up."

"I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the wisdom of our judges."

"Cry about the simple hell of it."

"If you don't want to go, we'll not go."

"You've got to make allowances for the simple hell of it."

"I just hope that Jem and Scout come to understand."

"There's a lot of ugly things in this world."

"We're the safest folks in the county."

"I wanted him to feel easy in his mind."

"The time is now."

"Every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally."

"Do the best with what you've got."

"That's what I thought too, when I was your age."

"Real courage is when you know you're licked and you do it anyway."

"I've no intention of lying to you."

"It's going to be rough, but we'll get through it."

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

"I'm trying to teach you children something."

"Some people are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us."

"I wanted you to see something about her—I wanted you to see what real grace is."

"Life is difficult enough without it."

"That's what I'm counting on."

"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."