I have scars on my hands from touching certain people...Certain heads, certain colours and textures of human hair leave permanent marks on me. Other things, too. Charlotte once ran away from me, outside the studio, and I grabbed her dress to stop her, to keep her near me. A yellow cotton dress I loved because it was too long for her. I still have a lemon-yellow mark on the palm of my right hand. Oh God, if I'm anything by a clinical name, I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.
J. D. SalingerOh, I donโt know. That digression business got on my nerves. I donโt know. The trouble with me is, I like it when somebody digresses. Itโs more interesting and all.
J. D. SalingerYouโd better get busy, though, buddy. The goddam sands run out on you every time You turn around. I know what Iโm talking about. Youโre lucky if you get time to sneeze In this goddam phenomenal world.
J. D. SalingerI don't know what good it is to know so much and be smart as whips and all if it doesn't make you happy.
J. D. SalingerIt was just terrible! And the worst part was, I knew what a bore I was being, I knew how I was depressing people, or even hurting their feelings- but I just couldn't stop! I just could not stop picking!
J. D. SalingerAnyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.
J. D. Salinger