Atticus Finch

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

"Courage is not a man with a gun. The real courage is when you know you're beat."

"As if that wasn't enough, we've lost our heads."

"Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win."

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

"Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through."

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view."

"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."

"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."

"Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I've tried to live so I can look squarely back at him."

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

"There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible."

"You've got to make the best of things the way they are."

"People in their right minds never take pride in their talents."

"There are just some kind of men who—who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one."

"This time we aren't fighting the Yankees, we're fighting our own neighbors."

"Cry about the simple hell people give each other."

"I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds."

"Mrs. Dubose was the bravest person I ever knew."

"Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."

"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."

"Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win."

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

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

"Before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself."

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view."

"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."

"The simple hell of it is that I have no choice."

"Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through."

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