As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, 'I'm probably no better than you, but I'm certainly your equal.

Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in.

Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: 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 animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.

Now that I was compelled to think about it, reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of my union suit without looking around, or achieving two bows from a snarl of shoelaces.

Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

That boy is your company. And if he wants to eat up that tablecloth, you let him, you hear?

I try to give'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason.