In honor of author Harper Lee’s contribution to literature and our classrooms, I’d love it if we shared our favorite lines from To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ll go first:
“People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for…”
– Judge Taylor, as he addresses the courtroom
Which line speaks most to you? Share below!
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
–Scout Finch
And then for fun…”Don’t you say hey to me, you ugly girl!” –Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
This is a beautiful idea!
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” -Scout, after being told she couldn’t read with Atticus anymore.
Just heard the news from Kelly Gallagher at his super session at CATE. The shocked “oh” from 600 plus English teachers is something I will not forget.
Megan and Susan,
Your answers literally pinging in my email within one minute of each other. Sweetness.
Paul,
Wish I’d been there.
“You can’t really get to know a person until you get in their shoes and walk around in them.”
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” — Scout Finch
“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” —Atticus Finch.
“We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.”
“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. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple 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 into his skin and walk around in it.” (3.85-87)
“After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I.”
“Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passing.” That reverence and respect can’t be matched.
“Everybody’s gotta learn. Nobody’s born knowin.'”
“Stand up, Scout. Your father’s passin’.”
Of course, I still cry every time we get to “Hey, Boo.”
This is not a line but a passage that always brings tears to my eyes when I read it:
It was summertime, and two children scampered down the sidewalk toward a man approaching in the distance. The man waved, and the children raced each other to him.
It was still summertime, and the children came closer. A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishingpole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strangle little drama of their own invention.
It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose’s. The boy helped his sister to her feet, and they made their way home. Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day’s woes and triumphs on their faces. The stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.
Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog.
Summer, and he watched his children’s heart break. Autumn again, and Boos’ children needed him. (Lee 279)
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.”
“I think there is just one kind of folks. Folks.”