The room was not impressively large, even by Manhattan apartment-house standards, but its accumulated furnishings might have lent a snug appearance to a banquet hall in Valhalla.
J. D. SalingerI'm known as a strange, aloof kind of man. But all I'm doing is trying to protect myself and my work.
J. D. SalingerWhen I really worry about something, I donโt just fool around. I even have to go to the bathroom when I worry about something. Only, I donโt go. Iโm too worried to go. I donโt want to interrupt my worrying to go.
J. D. SalingerOr you'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be different in some wayโI can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it.
J. D. SalingerAmong other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from themโif you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.
J. D. SalingerI was six when I saw that everything was God, and my hair stood up, and all, Teddy said. It was on a Sunday, I remember. My sister was a tiny child then, and she was drinking her milk, and all of a sudden I saw that she was God and the milk was God. I mean, all she was doing was pouring God into God, if you know what I mean.
J. D. Salinger