Harper Lee

Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of — oh, of your father.

The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.
As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it — whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.

"Do you know what a compromise is?”
“Bending the law?”
“No, an agreement reached by mutual concessions. It works this way.”

Boo was our neighbor.
He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives.
But neighbors give in return.
We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.

“Look here.” With a click of her tongue she thrust out her bridgework, a gesture of cordiality that cemented our friendship.

"Atticus, you must be wrong....”
“How’s that?”
“Well, most folks seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong....”
“They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions,” said Atticus, “but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

Again, as I had often met it in my own church, I was confronted with the Impurity of Women doctrine that seemed to preoccupy all clergymen.

He had asked me earlier in the summer to marry him, then he promptly forgot about it.
He staked me out, marked as his property, said I was the only girl he would ever love, then he neglected me.
I beat him up twice but it did no good.

She was one of the few women he could stand permanently.

When stalking one’s prey, it is best to take one’s time.
Say nothing, and as sure as eggs he will become curious and emerge.

There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads — they couldn’t be fair if they tried.

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

“Come on, Scout,” he whispered. “Don’t pay any attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman.”

Matches were dangerous, but cards were fatal.