I'm not afraid to compete. It's just the opposite. Don't you see that? I'm afraid I will compete — that's what scares me. That's why I quit the Theatre Department. Just because I'm so horribly conditioned to accept everybody else's values, and just because I like applause and people to rave about me, doesn't make it right. I'm ashamed of it. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody. I'm sick of myself and everybody else that wants to make some kind of a splash.

People never notice anything.

I'm not afraid to compete. It's just the opposite. Don't you see that? I'm afraid I will compete - that's what scares me.

It was the last game of the year and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn't win.

Mothers are all slightly insane.

I'd never yell, "Good luck!" at anybody. It sounds terrible, when you think about it.

I have so much I want to tell you, and nowhere to begin.