I was surrounded by phonies...They were coming in the goddam window. 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 holden catchers crazy The existence of God, the why of life, was all that really only a question of glands? J. D. Salinger glands existence-of-god existence Were most of your stars out? Were you busy writing your heart out? J. D. Salinger stars heart writing I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. J. D. Salinger literature liars lying ... even the most sublimely accomplished non-stop talker can't consistently please. J. D. Salinger talkers accomplished please 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 probability glasses death 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 agony religious people 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 hero war book 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 actors mean people 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 strange trying men 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 doctors cells hair All mothers are slightly insane. J. D. Salinger insane mother 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-god hot sex I suspect that money is a far greater distraction for the artist than hunger. J. D. Salinger hunger distraction artist 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-do stupid knows 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 suicide winning education How long should a man's legs be? Long enough to touch the ground. J. D. Salinger legs men long People never believe you. J. D. Salinger literature believe people How do you know you're going to do something, untill you do it? J. D. Salinger do-you-know literature knows