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.

You see they could never, never understand that I live like I do because that's the way I want to live.

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.

I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system - that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality.

I wonder how much of the day I spend just callin' after you.

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.

We're paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It's that simple.