Jem Quotes

• Will has always been the brighter burning star, the one to catch attention — but Jem is a steady flame, unwavering and honest. He could make you happy.

  Cassandra Clare

  Stars, Flames, Attention

  Cassandra Clare (2013). “The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess”, p.790, Simon and Schuster

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• He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.

  Harper Lee

  Morning, Night, Light

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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• Sometimes," Jem said, "our lives can change so fast that the change outpaces our minds and hearts. It's those times, I think, when our lives have altered but we still long for the time before everything was altered-- that is when we feel the greatest pain. I can tell you, though, from experience, you grow accustomed to it. You learn to live your new life, and you can't imagine, or even really remember, how things were before.

  Cassandra Clare

  Life, Change, Pain

  Cassandra Clare (2010). “Clockwork Angel”, p.308, Simon and Schuster

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• I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.

  Harper Lee

  Courage, Real, Gun

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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• I'm gonna be a new kind of clown. I'm gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks.

  Harper Lee

  Tkam, Laughing, Kind

  Harper Lee (2014). “To Kill A Mockingbird”, p.176, Random House

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• No, everybody's gotta learn, nobody's born knowin'. That Walter's as smart as he can be, he just gets held back sometimes because he has to stay out and help his daddy. Nothin's wrong with him. Naw, Jem, I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.

  Harper Lee

  Smart, Thinking, Daddy

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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• There are just some kind of men…who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one.

  Harper Lee

  Life, Men, Tkam

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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• Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

  Harper Lee

  Inspirational, Courage, Perseverance

  "To Kill a Mockingbird". Book by Harper Lee, community.sparknotes.com. July 11, 1960.

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• I think I'll be a clown when I get grown,' said Dill. Jem and I stopped in our tracks. Yes sir, a clown,' he said. 'There ain't one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so I'm gonna join the circus and laugh my head off.' You got it backwards, Dill,' said Jem. 'Clowns are sad, it's folks that laugh at them.' Well I'm gonna be a new kind of clown. I'm gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks.

  Harper Lee

  Thinking, Tkam, Track

  Harper Lee (2014). “To Kill A Mockingbird”, p.176, Random House

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• Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained - if you ate animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.

  Harper Lee

  Cat, Eye, Animal

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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• If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside.

  Harper Lee

  Thinking, Tkam, House

  9 Copy quote

• Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

  Harper Lee

  Blue, Tkam, Ems

  To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) ch. 10

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• Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

  Harper Lee

  Wisdom, Heart, Garden

  FaceBook post by Harper Lee from Apr 21, 2015

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• The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.

  Harper Lee

  Honesty, Powerful, Integrity

  To Kill a Mockingbird ch. 11 (1960)

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• When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion faster than adults, and evasion simply muddles 'em.

  Harper Lee

  Children, Tkam, Adults

  "To Kill a Mockingbird". Book by Harper Lee, 1962.

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• As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, he is trash.

  Harper Lee

  Respect, Black And White, Men

  To Kill a Mockingbird ch. 23 (1960)

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• Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

  Harper Lee

  Gratitude, Appreciation, Powerful

  Harper Lee (2014). “To Kill a Mockingbird”, p.14, Harper Collins

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• 

  You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.

  Harper Lee

  Powerful, Positivity, Sunshine

  Harold Bloom, Harper Lee (2010). “Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird”, p.81, Infobase Publishing

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• When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake.

  Harper Lee

  Children, Tkam, Sake

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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• I think I'll be a clown when I get grown.... There ain't one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so I'm gonna join the circus and laugh my head off.

  Harper Lee

  Thinking, Tkam, Laughing

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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• The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.

  Harper Lee

  Men, Tkam, Squares

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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• ...but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself.

  Harper Lee

  Integrity, Tkam, Killing Others

  Christopher Sergel, Harper Lee (1995). “The Play of To Kill a Mockingbird”, p.20, Heinemann

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• Mutual defiance made them alike.

  Harper Lee

  Made, Finches, Defiance

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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• I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.

  Harper Lee

  Thinking, Differences, Tkam

  Harold Bloom, Harper Lee (2010). “Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird”, p.44, Infobase Publishing

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• It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.

  Harper Lee

  Dad, War, Father

  Harper Lee (1960). “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”

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