What I think is, you're supposed to leave somebody alone if he's at least being interesting and he's getting all excited about something. I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice.
J. D. SalingerIf you sat around there long enough and heard all the phonies applauding and all, you got to hate everybody in the world, I swear you did.
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. SalingerSomething else an academic education will do for you. If you go along with it any considerable distance, it will begin to give you an idea what size mind you have. Whatโll fit and, maybe, what it wonโt. After a while, youโll have an idea what kind of thoughts your mind should be wearing. For one thing, it may save you an extraordinary amount of time trying on ideas that wonโt suit you, arenโt becoming to you. Youโll begin to know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly.
J. D. SalingerI drew laughing, high-breasted girls aquaplaning without a care in the world, as a result of being amply protected against such national evils as bleeding gums, facial blemishes, unsightly hairs, and faulty or inadequate life insurance. I drew housewives who, until they reached for the right soap flakes, laid themselves wide open to straggly hair, poor posture, unruly children, disaffected husbands, rough (but slender) hands, untidy (but enormous) kitchens.
J. D. Salinger