To Kill a Mockingbird Quotes
Scout: Hey Miss Dubose.
Mrs. Dubose: Don't you say hey to me you ugly girl!
Mrs. Dubose: Don't you say hey to me you ugly girl!
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout: Why there he is, Mr. Tate. He can tell you his name... [Looks at the man]
Scout: Hey, Boo.
Atticus Finch: [making introductions] Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley. I believe he already knows you.
Scout: Hey, Boo.
Atticus Finch: [making introductions] Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley. I believe he already knows you.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Tom Robinson: Looks like she didn't have nobody to help her. I felt right sorry for her. She seemed...
Prosecutor: You felt sorry for her? A white woman? You felt sorry for her?
Prosecutor: You felt sorry for her? A white woman? You felt sorry for her?
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
[about Jem]
Scout: You can pet him, Mr. Arthur. He's asleep. Couldn't if he was awake, though; he wouldn't let you. Go ahead.
Scout: You can pet him, Mr. Arthur. He's asleep. Couldn't if he was awake, though; he wouldn't let you. Go ahead.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
[Atticus on the porch overhearing their conversation]
Scout: How old was I when Mama died?
Jem: Two.
Scout: How old were you?
Jem: Six.
Scout: Old as I am now?
Jem: Uh huh.
Scout: ...Was Mama pretty?
Jem: Uh, huh.
Scout: Was Mama nice?
Jem: Uh, huh.
Scout: Did you love her?
Jem: Yes.
Scout: Did I love her?
Jem: Yes.
Scout: Do you miss her?
Jem: Uh, huh.
Scout: How old was I when Mama died?
Jem: Two.
Scout: How old were you?
Jem: Six.
Scout: Old as I am now?
Jem: Uh huh.
Scout: ...Was Mama pretty?
Jem: Uh, huh.
Scout: Was Mama nice?
Jem: Uh, huh.
Scout: Did you love her?
Jem: Yes.
Scout: Did I love her?
Jem: Yes.
Scout: Do you miss her?
Jem: Uh, huh.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
[to Dill about Miss Dubose]
Jem: Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back. There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you quick as look at you. Come on.
Jem: Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back. There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you quick as look at you. Come on.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch : If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Bob Ewell : You nigger lover.
Atticus Finch : [ to Jem ] No need to be afraid of him, son. He's all bluff. [ after they get home ]
Atticus Finch : There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible.
Atticus Finch : [ to Jem ] No need to be afraid of him, son. He's all bluff. [ after they get home ]
Atticus Finch : There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Rev. Sykes : Jean Louise. Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Jem : Atticus says cheating a black man is ten times worse than cheating a white.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Jem : There goes the meanest man that ever took a breath of life.
Dill Harris : Why is he the meanest man?
Jem : Well, for one thing, he has a boy named Boo that he keeps chained to a bed in the house over yonder. Boo only comes out at night when you're asleep and it's pitch-dark. When you wake up at night, you can hear him. Once I heard him scratchin' on our screen door, but he was gone by the time Atticus got there.
Dill Harris : I wonder what he does in there? I wonder what he looks like?
Jem : Well, judgin' from his tracks, he's about six and a half feet tall. He eats raw squirrels and all the cats he can catch. There's a long, jagged scar that runs all the way across his face. His teeth are yella and rotten. His eyes are popped. And he drools most of the time.
Dill Harris : Why is he the meanest man?
Jem : Well, for one thing, he has a boy named Boo that he keeps chained to a bed in the house over yonder. Boo only comes out at night when you're asleep and it's pitch-dark. When you wake up at night, you can hear him. Once I heard him scratchin' on our screen door, but he was gone by the time Atticus got there.
Dill Harris : I wonder what he does in there? I wonder what he looks like?
Jem : Well, judgin' from his tracks, he's about six and a half feet tall. He eats raw squirrels and all the cats he can catch. There's a long, jagged scar that runs all the way across his face. His teeth are yella and rotten. His eyes are popped. And he drools most of the time.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch : [ his closing statement ] To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place... It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses, whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. Now, there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewel was beaten - savagely, by someone who led exclusively with his left. And Tom Robinson now sits before you having taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses... his RIGHT. I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the State. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance. But my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man's life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt. Now I say "guilt," gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She's committed no crime - she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She must destroy the evidence of her offense. But what was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was to her a daily reminder of what she did. Now, what did she do? She tempted a Negro. She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that, in our society, is unspeakable. She kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong, young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards. The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption... the evil ass
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout : May I see your watch? "To Atticus, My Beloved Husband." Atticus, Jem says this watch is gonna belong to him some day.
Atticus Finch : That's right.
Scout : Why?
Atticus Finch : Well, it's customary for the boy to have his father's watch.
Scout : What are you gonna give me?
Atticus Finch : Well, I don't know that I have much else of value that belongs to me... But there's a pearl necklace; there's a ring that belonged to your mother. And I've put them away, and they're to be yours.
Atticus Finch : That's right.
Scout : Why?
Atticus Finch : Well, it's customary for the boy to have his father's watch.
Scout : What are you gonna give me?
Atticus Finch : Well, I don't know that I have much else of value that belongs to me... But there's a pearl necklace; there's a ring that belonged to your mother. And I've put them away, and they're to be yours.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch : I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house; and that he'd rather I'd shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted - if I could hit 'em; but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.
Jem : Why?
Atticus Finch : Well, I reckon because mockingbirds don't do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat people's gardens, don't nest in the corncrib, they don't do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us.
Jem : Why?
Atticus Finch : Well, I reckon because mockingbirds don't do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat people's gardens, don't nest in the corncrib, they don't do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Tom Robinson : Looks like she didn't have nobody to help her. I felt right sorry for her. She seemed...
Prosecutor : You felt sorry for her? A white woman? You felt sorry for her?
Prosecutor : You felt sorry for her? A white woman? You felt sorry for her?
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Older Scout : [ narrating ] Maycomb was a tired old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it. Somehow, it was hotter then. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning; ladies bathed before noon, after their 3 o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting from sweating and sweet talcum. The day was twenty-four hours long, but it seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go and nothing to buy... and no money to buy it with. Although Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself... That summer, I was six years old.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
[ about Atticus ]
Miss Maudie Atkinson : He can do plenty of things... He can make somebody's will so airtight you can't break it. You count your blessings and stop complaining, both of you. Thank your stars he has the sense to act his age.
Miss Maudie Atkinson : He can do plenty of things... He can make somebody's will so airtight you can't break it. You count your blessings and stop complaining, both of you. Thank your stars he has the sense to act his age.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Miss Stephanie Crawford : There's a maniac lives there and he's dangerous... I was standing in my yard one day when his Mama come out yelling, 'He's killin' us all.' Turned out that Boo was sitting in the living room cutting up the paper for his scrapbook, and when his daddy come by, he reached over with his scissors, stabbed him in his leg, pulled them out, and went right on cutting the paper. They wanted to send him to an asylum, but his daddy said no Radley was going to any asylum. So they locked him up in the basement of the courthouse till he nearly died of the damp, and his daddy brought him back home. There he is to this day, sittin' over there with his scissors... Lord knows what he's doin' or thinkin'.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
[ Atticus on the porch overhearing their conversation ]
Scout : How old was I when Mama died?
Jem : Two.
Scout : How old were you?
Jem : Six.
Scout : Old as I am now?
Jem : Uh-huh.
Scout : ...Was Mama pretty?
Jem : Uh-huh.
Scout : Was Mama nice?
Jem : Uh-huh.
Scout : Did you love her?
Jem : Yes.
Scout : Did I love her?
Jem : Yes.
Scout : Do you miss her?
Jem : Uh-huh.
Scout : How old was I when Mama died?
Jem : Two.
Scout : How old were you?
Jem : Six.
Scout : Old as I am now?
Jem : Uh-huh.
Scout : ...Was Mama pretty?
Jem : Uh-huh.
Scout : Was Mama nice?
Jem : Uh-huh.
Scout : Did you love her?
Jem : Yes.
Scout : Did I love her?
Jem : Yes.
Scout : Do you miss her?
Jem : Uh-huh.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Bob Ewell : I'm real sorry they picked you to defend that nigger that raped my Mayella. I don't know why I didn't kill him myself instead of goin' to the sheriff. That would have saved you and the sheriff and the taxpayers lots of trouble...
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Calpurnia : That boy is your company. And if he wants to eat up that tablecloth, you let him, you hear? And if you can't act fit to eat like folks, you can just set here and eat in the kitchen.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
[ to Dill about Miss Dubose ]
Jem : Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back. There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you quick as look at you. Come on.
Jem : Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back. There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you quick as look at you. Come on.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch : Do you know what a compromise is?
Scout : Bendin' the law?
Atticus Finch : [ slightly bemused ] Uh, no. It's an agreement reached by mutual consent. Now, here's the way it works. You concede the necessity of goin' to school, we'll keep right on readin' the same every night, just as we always have. Is that a bargain?
Scout : Bendin' the law?
Atticus Finch : [ slightly bemused ] Uh, no. It's an agreement reached by mutual consent. Now, here's the way it works. You concede the necessity of goin' to school, we'll keep right on readin' the same every night, just as we always have. Is that a bargain?
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Older Scout : [ narrating ] There just didn't seem to be anyone or anything Atticus couldn't explain. Though it wasn't a talent that would arouse the admiration of any of our friends, Jem and I had to admit he was very good at that - but that was *all* he was good at... we thought.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Older Scout : [ narrating ] Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fightin' any more. I was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be. I soon forgot... Cecil Jacobs *made* me forget.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout : Atticus, do you defend niggers?
Atticus Finch : [ startled ] Don't say 'nigger,' Scout.
Scout : I didn't say it... Cecil Jacobs did; that's why I had to fight him.
Atticus Finch : [ sternly ] Scout, I don't want you fightin'!
Scout : I had to, Atticus, he...
Atticus Finch : I don't care what the reasons are: I forbid you to fight.
Atticus Finch : [ startled ] Don't say 'nigger,' Scout.
Scout : I didn't say it... Cecil Jacobs did; that's why I had to fight him.
Atticus Finch : [ sternly ] Scout, I don't want you fightin'!
Scout : I had to, Atticus, he...
Atticus Finch : I don't care what the reasons are: I forbid you to fight.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch : There are some things that you're not old enough to understand just yet. There's been some high talk around town to the effect that I shouldn't do much about defending this man.
Scout : If you shouldn't be defending him, then why are you doing it?
Atticus Finch : For a number of reasons. The main one is that if I didn't, I couldn't hold my head up in town. I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do somethin' again. [ he puts his arm around her ]
Atticus Finch : You're gonna hear some ugly talk about this in school. But I want you to promise me one thing: That you won't get into fights over it, no matter what they say to you.
Scout : If you shouldn't be defending him, then why are you doing it?
Atticus Finch : For a number of reasons. The main one is that if I didn't, I couldn't hold my head up in town. I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do somethin' again. [ he puts his arm around her ]
Atticus Finch : You're gonna hear some ugly talk about this in school. But I want you to promise me one thing: That you won't get into fights over it, no matter what they say to you.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout : I said, 'Hey,' Mr. Cunningham. How's your entailment getting along? [ He turns and looks away ]
Scout : Don't you remember me, Mr. Cunningham? I'm Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts one early morning, remember? We had a talk. I went and got my daddy to come out and thank you. I go to school with your boy. I go to school with Walter; he's a nice boy. Tell him 'hey' for me, won't you? You know something, Mr. Cunningham, entailments are bad. Entailments... [ She suddenly becomes self-conscious ]
Scout : Atticus, I was just saying to Mr. Cunningham that entailments were bad but not to worry. Takes a long time sometimes... [ to the men who are staring up at her ]
Scout : What's the matter? I sure meant no harm, Mr. Cunningham.
Scout : Don't you remember me, Mr. Cunningham? I'm Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts one early morning, remember? We had a talk. I went and got my daddy to come out and thank you. I go to school with your boy. I go to school with Walter; he's a nice boy. Tell him 'hey' for me, won't you? You know something, Mr. Cunningham, entailments are bad. Entailments... [ She suddenly becomes self-conscious ]
Scout : Atticus, I was just saying to Mr. Cunningham that entailments were bad but not to worry. Takes a long time sometimes... [ to the men who are staring up at her ]
Scout : What's the matter? I sure meant no harm, Mr. Cunningham.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird
Older Scout : [ narrating ] By October, things had settled down again. I still looked for Boo every time I went by the Radley place. This night my mind was filled with Halloween - there was to be a pageant representing our county's agricultural products; I was to be a ham. Jem said he would escort me to the school auditorium. Thus began our longest journey together.
Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird