To Kill a Mockingbird quotes

View Quote [to Scout, about Mrs. Dubose] Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back. There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you quick as look at you. Come on.

View Quote He gets her interested in something nice, so she forgets to be mean.

View Quote There are some men in this world who are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father's one of them.

View Quote Didn't you know your daddy's the best shot in this county?

View Quote She was beaten around the head. There were bruises already comin' on her arms. She had a black eye startin' an'... - it was her left...It was her right eye, Mr. Finch. Now I remember. She was beat up on that side of her face...She had bruises on her arms and she showed me her neck. There were definite finger marks on her gullet...I'd say they were all around.

View Quote Bob Ewell's lyin' on the ground under that tree down yonder with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs. He's dead, Mr. Finch....He's not gonna bother these children any more.

View Quote Bob Ewell fell on his knife. He killed himself. There's a black man dead for no reason, and now the man responsible for it is dead. Let the dead bury the dead this time, Mr. Finch. I never heard tell it was against the law for any citizen to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did. But maybe you'll tell me it's my duty to tell the town all about it, not to hush it up...To my way of thinkin', takin' one man who's done you and this town a big service, and draggin' him, with his shy ways, into the limelight, to me, that's a sin. It's a sin, and I'm not about to have it on my head. I may not be much, Mr. Finch, but I'm still Sheriff of Maycomb County, and Bob Ewell fell on his knife. Goodnight sir.

View Quote Calpurnia: That boy is your company. And if he wants to eat up that tablecloth, you let him, you hear? And if you can't act fit to eat like folks, you can just set here and eat in the kitchen.

View Quote Mayella Ewell: I was sittin' on the porch, and he come along. Uh, there's this old chifforobe in the yard, and I-I said, 'You come in here, boy, and bust up this chifforobe, and I'll give you a nickel.' So he-he come on in the yard and I go in the house to get him the nickel and I turn around, and 'fore I know it, he's on me, and I fought and hollered, but he had me around the neck, and he hit me again and again, and the next thing I knew, Papa was in the room, a-standin' over me, hollerin', 'Who done it, who done it?'

View Quote Rev. Sykes: Miss Jean Louise, stand up, your father's passin'.

View Quote Scout: Is he poor?
Atticus: Yes.
Scout: Are we poor?
Atticus: We are indeed.
Scout: Are we as poor as the Cunninghams?
Atticus: No, not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers. The crash hit them the hardest.

View Quote Dill: Hey.
Jem: Hey yourself.
Dill: I'm Charles Baker Harris. I can read. I can read anything you've got. Folks call me Dill.
Jem: How old are you? Four and a half?
Dill: Going on seven.
Jem: Well no wonder then. Scout's bin readin' since she was born, and she's not even six yet. You're mighty puny for nearly seven.
Dill: I'm little but I'm old.

View Quote Scout: Hey Miss Dubose.
Mrs. Dubose: Don't you say "hey" to me you ugly girl!

View Quote Atticus: Good Afternoon Miss Dubose... My, you look like a picture this afternoon.
Scout: [hiding behind Atticus whispering to Jem and Dill] He don't say a picture of what.

View Quote Scout: Atticus, do you think Boo Radley ever really comes and looks in my window at night? Jem says he does. This afternoon when we were over by their house...
Atticus: Scout. I told you and Jem to leave those poor people alone. I want you to stay away from their house and stop tormentin' them.
Scout: Yes, sir.
Atticus: Well, I think that's all the reading for tonight, honey. It's gettin' late.
Scout: What time is it?
Atticus: Eight-thirty.
Scout: May I see your watch? [reading] 'To Atticus, My Beloved Husband.' Atticus, Jem says this watch is gonna belong to him some day.
Atticus: That's right.
Scout: Why?
Atticus: Well, customary for the boy to have his father's watch.
Scout: What are you gonna give me?
Atticus: Well, I don't know that I have much else of value that belongs to me. But there's a pearl necklace - and there's a ring that belonged to your mother. And I've put them away and they're to be yours.