Holden Caulfield

Character in The Catcher in the Rye From: The Catcher in the Rye

Protagonist and narrator; a cynical teenage boy navigating post-war America

417 quotes

"Mothers are all slightly insane."
Family
"I don't care if it's a sad good-bye or a bad good-bye, but when I leave a place I like to say good-bye to it."
Relationships
"The thing is, it's really hard to leave when you don't want to."
Change
"I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot."
Knowledge
"I hate it when somebody gets killed in a movie on account of somebody else."
Justice
"I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot."
Education
"It really does."
Humor
"I really do. I'm a secret moron."
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I went to school."
Education
"The thing is, it's very hard to live in America."
Life
"I was born quite a while ago."
Time
"That killed me."
Humor
"It really is."
Humor
"I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life."
Truth
"I have a feeling I'll regret it."
Wisdom
"I'm sick. I'm quite ill."
Health
"That's the thing about girls."
Relationships
"I wish to God I could go home."
Family
"It would be quite amusing if it weren't so depressing."
Humor
"That's the whole trouble."
Wisdom
"I'm quite the sex maniac."
Humor
"I really am."
Humor
"It's impossible."
Wisdom
"I really should."
Motivation
"That was something."
"I really do. That's the thing about me. I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life."
Truth
"It kills me. It really does."
Humor
"I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot."
Education
"Certain things should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone."
Time
"I don't know. That killed me, it really did."
Humor