J. D. Salinger

I don't even like old cars. I'd rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God's sake.

I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot.

An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's.

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

I don't exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it.

All morons hate it when you call them a moron.

You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out over phoney stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they're mean bastards at heart.

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

I've survived a lot of things, and I'll probably survive this.

You can't stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it.

I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty... you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.

I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.

People never believe you.

I'm known as a strange, aloof kind of man. But all I'm doing is trying to protect myself and my work.

They didn't act like people and they didn't act like actors. It's hard to explain. They acted more like they knew they were celebrities and all. I mean they were good, but they were too good.

Even a little self control can save you a lot of timeIts really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs.

There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. It's peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy.

Some stories, my property, have been stolen. Someone's appropriated them. It's an illicit act. It's unfair. Suppose you had a coat you liked, and somebody went into your closet and stole it. That's how I feel.

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

If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don't watch it, you start showing off. And then you're not as good any more.

He had a theory, Walt did, that the religious life, and all the agony that goes with it, is just something God sics on people who have the gall to accuse Him of having created an ugly world.

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

I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.

How long should a man's legs be? Long enough to touch the ground.

The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.

Its really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs.

How do you know you're going to do something, untill you do it?

The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.

Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.

People never notice anything.

An artist’s only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else’s.

Its funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and theyll do practically anything you want them to.

People always clap for the wrong things.

I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.

A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you been drinkin jack and coke all morning. she can make you feel high, for the single greatest comodity known to man - promise.

If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? Nobody.

Mothers are all slightly insane.

It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.

Anyway, I'm sort of glad they’ve got the atomic bomb invented. If there’s ever another war. I’m going to sit right the hell on top of it. I’ll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.

I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.

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

It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it.