Salinger Quotes: Catcher In The Rye Author's Most Famous Sayings

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J.D. Salinger Dead at Age 91

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J.D. Salinger, the author of the iconic novel Catcher In The Rye, died at the age of 91 at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire. J.D. Salinger was a world renowned writer most famous for the creation of his character Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in Catcher In The Rye. While the novel remains Salinger's most known work, he wrote numerous other novels, including Franny And Zooey and A Perfect Day For Bananafish. Salinger's quotes from his works became inspiration and reason for self-examination for many of his readers.

Here are Salinger's most famous quotes:

On emotions:

"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.”

On people:

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

On perfection:

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

On death:

“I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody.”


Other quotes from Catcher In The Rye:

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.”

“Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behaviour. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them—if you want to. Just as some day, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.”

“I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.”