Atticus Finch

"We teach by example more than by words; our children watch what we do."

"Power without principle is tyranny; principle without power is idealism."

"A thoughtful silence is sometimes the most powerful response."

"The burden of conscience is the price of being human."

"In darkness, we must be the light for those around us."

"A life well-lived requires both sacrifice and joy."

"The true measure of civilization is how it treats those accused of crime."

"We are neighbors first, divided second, united by humanity always."

"The voice of one person speaking truth can echo across generations."

"Every person deserves to be seen, heard, and treated with dignity."

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

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

"Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway."

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

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

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun."

"The simple hell of it is, we never put the men on the stand."

"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'm simply defending a Negro man accused of a crime I don't believe he committed."

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

"It's when you know you're licked that it counts."

"You are not obligated to set yourself on fire to keep others warm."

"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."

"Atticus was right. One time he said you never really understand a person until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them."

"The truth, simple or not, is the business of the honest lawyer."

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

"Dill was a curiosity, but Jem was an institution."

"I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks."

"Do the best you can with what you have where you are."

"You've no cause to presume that just because we're old we ain't living."