To Kill a Mockingbird quotes for characters and themes

• "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." - Atticus Finch
• "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." - Scout Finch
• "Atticus says cheatin' a colored man is ten times worse than cheatin' a white man." - Jem Finch
• "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." - Atticus Finch
• "I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more 'n the rest of 'em." - Tom Robinson
• "Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him."
• "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." - Atticus Finch
• "I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." - Atticus Finch
• "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." - Miss Maudie
• "I got somethin' to say an' then I ain't gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an' if you fine fancy gentlemen don't wanta do nothin' about it then you're all yellow stinkin' cowards, stinkin' cowards, the lot of you." - Mayella Ewell (Chapter 18)
• "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." - Scout Finch
• "I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year." - Scout Finch
• "Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts, Atticus had no case." - Scout Finch
• "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." - Scout Finch
• "I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." - Scout Finch
• "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." - Jem Finch
• "It's like bein' a caterpillar in a cocoon, that's what it is." - Jem Finch
• "I ain't ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man." - Jem Finch
• "I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... it's because he wants to stay inside." - Jem Finch
• "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." - Jem Finch
• "I ain't ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man." - Tom Robinson
• "I didn't rape Mayella Ewell, and I didn't beat her. I never done any of those things." - Tom Robinson
• "I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more'n the rest of 'em." - Tom Robinson
• "I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more'n the rest of 'em." - Tom Robinson
• "I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more'n the rest of 'em." - Tom Robinson
• "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." - Scout Finch
• "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." - Atticus Finch
• "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." - Miss Maudie
• "I ain't ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man." - Calpurnia
• "People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for." - Judge Taylor
• "Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off."
• "Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you."
• "Will you take me home?"
• "Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives."
• "Boo was sitting in the livingroom cutting some items from The Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook."
• "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." - Jem Finch
• "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." - Jem Finch
• "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." - Jem Finch
• "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." - Jem Finch
• "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." - Atticus Finch