Anyway, 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. SalingerIt was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it.
J. D. SalingerDon't tell people what you are thinking, or you will miss them terribly when you are away.
J. D. SalingerSometimes you get tired of riding in taxicabs the same way you get tired riding in elevators. All of a sudden, you have to walk, no matter how far or how high up.
J. D. SalingerI am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.
J. D. SalingerThen Iād throw my automatic down the elevator shaft-after Iād wiped off all the fingerprints and all. Then Iād crawl back up to my room and call up Jane and have her come over and bandage up my guts. I pictured her holding a cigarette for me to smoke while I was bleeding and all. The goddam movies. They can ruin you. Iām not kidding.
J. D. Salinger