Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first one who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. J. D. Salinger More Quotes by J. D. Salinger More Quotes From J. D. Salinger We don't talk, we hold forth. We don't converse, we expound. J. D. Salinger converses I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy. J. D. Salinger holdencatcherscrazy The existence of God, the why of life, was all that really only a question of glands? J. D. Salinger glandsexistence-of-godexistence Were most of your stars out? Were you busy writing your heart out? J. D. Salinger starsheartwriting I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. J. D. Salinger literatureliarslying ... even the most sublimely accomplished non-stop talker can't consistently please. J. D. Salinger talkersaccomplishedplease If Death stepped miraculously through the glass and came in after you, in all probability you just got up and went along with him, ferociously but quietly. J. D. Salinger probabilityglassesdeath 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. J. D. Salinger agonyreligiouspeople But if we come back, if German men come back, if British men come back, and Japs, and French, and all the other men, all of us talking, writing, painting, making movies of heroes, and cockroaches and foxholes and blood, then future generations will always be doomed to future Hitlers. It's never occurred to boys to have contempt for wars, to point to soldiers' pictures in history books, laughing at them. If German boys had learned to be contemptuous of violence, Hitler would have had to take up knitting to keep his ego warm. J. D. Salinger herowarbook 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. J. D. Salinger actorsmeanpeople I'm known as a strange, aloof kind of man. But all I'm doing is trying to protect myself and my work. J. D. Salinger strangetryingmen But doctors talk about cells as if they had such unlimited importance all by themselves. As if they didn't really belong to the person that has them." Teddy brushed back his hair from his forehead with one hand. "I grew my own body," he said. "Nobody else did it for me. So if I grew it, I must have known how to grow it. Unconsciously, at least. I may have lost the conscious knowledge of how to grow it sometime in the last few hundred thousand years, but the knowledge is still there, because—obviously—I've used it. J. D. Salinger doctorscellshair All mothers are slightly insane. J. D. Salinger insanemother Sex is something I really don't understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are... Sex is something I just don't understand. I swear to God. J. D. Salinger swear-to-godhotsex I suspect that money is a far greater distraction for the artist than hunger. J. D. Salinger hungerdistractionartist It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it. J. D. Salinger things-to-dostupidknows It was the last game of the year and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn't win. J. D. Salinger suicidewinningeducation How long should a man's legs be? Long enough to touch the ground. J. D. Salinger legsmenlong People never believe you. J. D. Salinger literaturebelievepeople How do you know you're going to do something, untill you do it? J. D. Salinger do-you-knowliteratureknows
