The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger

I’m always saying “Glad to’ve met you” to somebody I’m not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.

What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.

"What the hellya reading?" he said.
"Goddam book."
He shoved my book back with his hand so that he could see the name of it. "Any good?" he said.
"This sentence I'm reading is terrific." I can be quite sarcastic when I'm in the mood.

Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can.

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

I was too depressed to care whether I had a good view or not.

I used to think she was quite intelligent, in my stupidity. The reason I did was because she knew quite a lot about the theater and plays and literature and all that stuff. If somebody knows quite a lot about those things, it takes you quite a while to find out whether they're really stupid or not.

Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.

People always think something’s all true. I don’t give a damn, except that I get bored sometimes when people tell me to act my age. Sometimes I act a lot older than I am — I really do — but people never notice it. People never notice anything.

It's really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes.

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

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

I don't know if you've ever done it, but it's sort of hard to sit around waiting for somebody to say something when they're thinking and all.

I think that one of these days, you're going to have to find out where you want to go. And then you've got to start going there. But immediately. You can't afford to lose a minute. Not you.

Mothers are all slightly insane.