I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house; and that he'd rather I'd shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted - if I could hit 'em; but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.

We’re so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are, we’ve got men like Atticus to go for us.

She's an old lady and she's ill. You just hold your head high and be a gentleman. Whatever she says to you, it's your job not to let her make you mad.

You can choose your friends, but you sho' can't choose your family.

Everybody’s gotta learn, nobody’s born knowing.

Now...in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, ipods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books.

Long ago, in a burst of friendliness, Aunty and Uncle Jimmy produced a son named Henry.