J.D. Salinger Quotes

But you can't always tell - with somebody's mother, I mean. Mothers are all slightly insane.

This is God's universe, buddy, not yours, and he has the final say about what's ego and what isn't.

I was surrounded by jerks. I'm not kidding.

In every school I've gone to, all the athletic bastards stick together.

People never believe you.

If I'd wanted this place to fill up with every fat Irish rose that passes by, I'd've said so.

Believe me, as one who has seen a number of international crises firsthand, they cannot be handled without an understanding of history.

I lost two of the greatest men I've ever known to assassination - and a son to suicide.

To outlive one's child is a terrible thing, but to do so because your child has taken his or her life is horrible.

President Kennedy was a voracious reader and was forever coming up with fascinating bits of information.

The death of JFK to the resignation of Richard Nixon marked a great turning point in American life.

The French were mystified about the Watergate scandal.

I've had at least my share of tragedy, but I have had far more than my share of happiness.

He's the president of the United States. He's got to work 14 to 16 hours a day, run foreign and domestic policy. If he's got time for mistresses after all that, what the hell difference does it make?

I may be plucky, but I am not stupid.

America Held Hostage won 24 Emmys for ABC News, but someone forgot to include my name on the list of people responsible for the show.

I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.

I know more damn perverts, at schools and all, than anybody you ever met, and they’re always being perverty when I’m around.

I’ll read my books and I’ll drink coffee and I’ll listen to music, and I’ll bolt the

You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long you live.

I always pick a gorgeous time to fall over a suitcase or something.

The worst that being an artist could do to you would be that it would make you slightly unhappy constantly.

If you're not inthe mood, you can't do that stuff right.

I don't like it when it stings, ' he said. 'Nobody does.

Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell

Look at 'em, ' he said. 'Goddam fools.' 'Who?' said Ginnie. 'I don't know. Anybody.

I still think that, in a way, I can't get past half my childhood dogmas.

I purely came over because I thought you looked extremely lonely. You have an extremely sensitive face.

...every writer I had ever known wrote his best work when he had his back up against the wall and thought he would never write another word.

... I was feeling so depressed I didn't even think. That's the whole trouble. When you're feeling very depressed, you can't even think

People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, ..., and he had very red hair.

And yet, wasn't the terrific thing about stories the fact that they joined readers together, that they made people realize they were not alone in their hopes, dreams, and fears?

I am a kind of paranoid in reverse. I suspect people of trying to make me happy

Oh, God, if I'm anything by a clinical name, I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I think people are plotting to make me happy.

I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth.

A story never ends. The narrator is usually provided with a nice, artistic spot for his voice to stop, but that's about all.

Isn’t that why all writers write? To inspire their readers?

If German boys had learned to be contemptuous of violence, Hitler would have had to take up knitting to keep his ego warm.

These intellectual guys don't like to have an intellectual conversation with you unless they're running the whole thing.

That's depressing, when somebody says "please" to you.

But what I mean is, lots of time you don't know what interests you most till you start talking about something that doesn't interest you most.

I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it?

Every criminal would be an artist if he had the talent, and every artist would become a criminal if he had the guts.

I think that once you have a fair idea where you want to go, your first move will be to apply yourself in school.

That's the spirit! Make it chicken broth or nothing. That's putting the old foot down. If she's determined to have a nervous breakdown, the least we can do is see that she doesn't have it in peace.

Some guys spend days looking for something they lost. I never seem to have anything that if I lost it I'd care too much.

He laughed and the others laughed with him, except Babe, who resented slightly that what he felt so deeply could be reduced to a humor.

People always think something's all true.

If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late?

Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. - Holden Caulfield