Harper Lee

"I beg to differ with you, sir, but there is no enterprise more worthy than the improvement of human knowledge."

"I never thought I had to go to any great length to think up the trouble that people could get into under the influence of a little notoriety."

"Things are never as bad as they seem."

"The mind can rationalize anything the heart is set on."

"The most human thing, to me, is the individual voice."

"I wanted to leave out the violence and simply say that here were two people who respected each other."

"Atticus is the same in his house as he is on the public streets."

"The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow."

"It's like we're carrying around all our worldly possessions on our backs, isn't it?"

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

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

"The year we lived in was like the end of the world."

"I think maybe it's never too late."

"There is nothing noble about poverty."

"Folks don't like to have somebody around knowing more than they do."

"It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is."

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

"There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you."

"The truth doesn't cost nothing, but a lie could cost you everything."

"When a man's conscience is bothering him, nothing can put it at ease but the truth."

"I wanted you to see what real courage is. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway."

"The most difficult thing, it seems to me, is to record ordinary life."

"Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks he can change the world if he just writes the right book."

"We live in our heads for too much of the time."

"There are just some kind of men who are born to be our friends."

"The one human institution that is older than any other is the family."

"Some people are born to be bad, and some people do bad because they've been hurt."

"The truth, simple or awful, is the sum of all knowledge."

"There are just some kind of men who-who're so blind with hate they can't see you pay 'em to death they still won't be grateful."

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