{ "type": "book", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "title": "The Catcher in the Rye", "slug": "the-catcher-in-the-rye", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye.md", "author": { "name": "J.D. Salinger", "slug": "jd-salinger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger" }, "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/little-brown/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye_978-03-1676-948-8.jpg", "quotes_count": 35, "quotes": [ { "id": "8e8351c2-57e9-467d-801a-b16d84dd1bfd", "slug": "a-lot-of-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/a-lot-of-people", "text": "A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I'm going to apply myself when I go back to school next September. It's such a stupid question, in my opinion. I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it? The answer is, you don't. I think I am, but how do I know? I swear it's a stupid question.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "the future", "slug": "the-future", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_26", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:49" }, { "id": "1f4471c0-5c36-4709-adf4-b986a1d92ddc", "slug": "d-b-asked-me-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/d-b-asked-me-what", "text": "D.B. asked me what I thought about all this stuff I just finished telling you about. I didn't know what the hell to say. If you want to know the truth, I don't know what I think about it. I'm sorry I told so many people about it. All I know about it is, I sort of miss everybody I told about. Even old Stradlater and Ackley, for instance. I think I even miss that goddam Maurice. It's funny. Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "longing", "slug": "longing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/longing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_26", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:49" }, { "id": "f253b5af-a1fb-41ea-8b8f-2aaa316db636", "slug": "certain-things-they", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/certain-things-they", "text": "Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_16", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "ea1c0acc-581a-47c9-938b-4e8ee8b3166a", "slug": "i-dont-hate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/i-dont-hate", "text": "I don't hate too many guys. What I may do, I may hate them for a little while, like this guy Stradlater I knew at Pencey, and this other boy, Robert Ackley. I hated them once in a while — I admit it — but it doesn't last too long, is what I mean. After a while, if I didn't see them, if they didn't come in the room, or if I didn't see them in the dining room for a couple of meals, I sort of missed them. I mean I sort of missed them.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "hatred", "slug": "hatred", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred" }, { "name": "longing", "slug": "longing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/longing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_24", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "e90b6b63-1e1b-47c6-966a-d2a9189a7b67", "slug": "these-intellectual-guys", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/these-intellectual-guys", "text": "These intellectual guys don't like to have an intellectual conversation with you unless they're running the whole thing. They always want you to shut up when they shut up, and go back to your room when they go back to their room. (Page 144)", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "conversation", "slug": "conversation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conversation" }, { "name": "intellectuals", "slug": "intellectuals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intellectuals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_19", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "e4bfbaf6-ccb6-460f-940f-abf3420a8798", "slug": "im-seventeen-now", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/im-seventeen-now", "text": "I'm seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I'm about thirteen. It's really ironical, because I'm six foot two and a half and I have gray hair. I really do. The one side of my head — the right side — is full of millions of gray hairs. I've had them ever since I was a kid. And yet I still act sometimes like I was only about twelve. Everybody says that, especially my father. It's partly true, too, but it isn't all true. People always think something's all true.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "growing up", "slug": "growing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "d4e80d62-99a6-44c3-8844-1f08ceb2358a", "slug": "the-part-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/the-part-that", "text": "The part that got me was, there was a lady sitting next to me that cried all through the goddam picture. The phonier it got, the more she cried. You'd have thought she did it because she was kindhearted as hell, but I was sitting right next to her, and she wasn't. She had this little kid with her that was bored as hell and had to go to the bathroom, but she wouldn't take him. She kept telling him to sit still and behave himself. She was about as kindhearted as a goddam wolf. You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out over phony stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they're mean bastards at heart. I'm not kidding.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_18", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "d0dcf8a0-72cc-48ef-b63b-dcfbea358328", "slug": "at-first-he-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/at-first-he-only", "text": "At first he only used to be kidding when he called my stuff bourgeois, and I didn't give a damn — it was sort of funny, in fact. Then, after a while, you could tell he wasn't kidding any more. The thing is, it's really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs — if yours are really good ones and theirs aren't. You think if they're intelligent and all, the other person, and have a good sense of humor, that they don't give a damn whose suitcases are better, but they do.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" }, { "name": "jealousy", "slug": "jealousy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/jealousy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_15", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "cd21da79-6246-4609-aad1-3fc459f68f6e", "slug": "then-the-carrousel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/then-the-carrousel", "text": "Then the carrousel started, and I watched her go around and around. There were only about five or six other kids on the ride, and the song the carrousel was playing was \"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.\" It was playing it very jazzy and funny. All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the goddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" }, { "name": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_25", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "cc0362b5-4bbd-403b-a004-e02efc4267ed", "slug": "the-best-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/the-best-thing", "text": "The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket. Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_16", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "c3cc0a6e-ee6e-45a7-99e5-cc318bc0f2ba", "slug": "what-really-knocks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/what-really-knocks", "text": "What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" }, { "name": "writers", "slug": "writers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writers" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "c0473131-68ae-43d9-8d45-81adc7ef029c", "slug": "what-i-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/what-i-was", "text": "What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "farewells", "slug": "farewells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/farewells" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_1", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "b500f302-409b-46ac-a258-d676df4973d3", "slug": "i-never-seem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/i-never-seem", "text": "I never seem to have anything that if I lost it I'd care too much about.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loss", "slug": "loss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loss" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_13", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "abf0e814-b878-4144-b43b-c9aa09cd59a5", "slug": "i-dont-know", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/i-dont-know", "text": "I don't know about bores. Maybe you shouldn't feel too sorry if you see some swell girl getting married to them. '''They don't hurt anybody, most of them, and maybe they're secretly all terrific whistlers or something. Who the hell knows? Not me.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "boredom", "slug": "boredom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/boredom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_17", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "a1921aa6-6af4-4a00-9e23-456d428fd0b8", "slug": "pencey-was-full", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/pencey-was-full", "text": "Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has - I'm not kidding.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "wealth", "slug": "wealth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_1", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "8c20969a-7a64-484f-b8a7-c84747755fc7", "slug": "if-you-do-something", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/if-you-do-something", "text": "If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don't watch it, you start showing off. And then you're not as good any more.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_17", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "802108d3-ab8b-4caa-a585-db5776e0bbd2", "slug": "take-most-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/take-most-people", "text": "Take most people, they're crazy about cars. They worry if they get a little scratch on them, and they're always talking about how many miles they get to a gallon, and if they get a brand-new car already they start thinking about trading it in for one that's even newer. I don't even like old cars. I mean they don't even interest me. I'd rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God's sake.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "consumerism", "slug": "consumerism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consumerism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_17", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "79da41f5-8b2a-4cbf-b056-0d015cbc0c96", "slug": "boy-when-youre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/boy-when-youre", "text": "Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody. (Page 155)", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_20", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "6ca9acf2-b9ab-49d8-a16f-00cd17581e56", "slug": "thats-the-whole", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/thats-the-whole", "text": "That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write \"Fuck you\" right under your nose. Try it sometime. I think, even, if I ever die, and they stick me in a cemetery, and I have a tombstone and all, it'll say \"Holden Caulfield\" on it, and then what year I was born and what year I died, and then right under that it'll say \"Fuck you.\" I'm positive, in fact.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "peace of mind", "slug": "peace-of-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace-of-mind" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_25", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "66c9fb50-7769-48f6-b2f2-ae8504ff0c5a", "slug": "life-is-a-game", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/life-is-a-game", "text": "\"Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.\" \"Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it.\" Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right — I'll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, then what's a game about it? Nothing. No game.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "social inequality", "slug": "social-inequality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/social-inequality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "6443ca9f-0aff-4c73-8f31-dc9075a359f3", "slug": "i-remember-i-asked", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/i-remember-i-asked", "text": "I remember I asked old Childs if he thought Judas, the one that betrayed Jesus and all, went to Hell after he committed suicide. Childs said certainly. That's exactly where I disagreed with him. I said I'd bet a thousand bucks that Jesus never sent old Judas to Hell. I still would, too, if I had a thousand bucks. I think any one of the Disciples would've sent him to Hell and all — and fast, too — but I'll bet anything Jesus didn't do it.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "forgiveness", "slug": "forgiveness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/forgiveness" }, { "name": "betrayal", "slug": "betrayal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/betrayal" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_14", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "63831e9b-7064-4a7b-8ad7-cae57877ccf8", "slug": "ill-be-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/ill-be-all", "text": "I'll be all right. I'm just going through a phase right now. Everybody goes through phases and all, don't they?", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "growing up", "slug": "growing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "55f78896-3c64-4b3c-853e-e740f9fea04c", "slug": "im-the-most", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/im-the-most", "text": "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "48e097fa-ea1d-44b0-9162-1938b89be631", "slug": "anyway-i-keep", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/anyway-i-keep", "text": "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'd 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. I know it's crazy.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" }, { "name": "dreams and aspirations", "slug": "dreams-and-aspirations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dreams-and-aspirations" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "40e456bc-4a89-467c-8995-3fb7635e9eed", "slug": "anyway-im-sort", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/anyway-im-sort", "text": "\"Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.\"", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "nuclear weapons", "slug": "nuclear-weapons", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nuclear-weapons" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_18", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "3cab706a-eea0-4cd1-ad93-3c698cb50f0c", "slug": "thats-the-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/thats-the-thing", "text": "That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "falling in love", "slug": "falling-in-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/falling-in-love" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_10", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "34ea7203-e51e-4e90-a541-45d81e39d135", "slug": "in-the-first", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/in-the-first", "text": "In the first place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the hell out of me, if you want to know the truth. They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they did was keep letting Him down. I like almost anybody in the Bible better than the Disciples. If you want to know the truth, the guy I like best in the Bible, next to Jesus, was that lunatic and all, that lived in the tombs and kept cutting himself with stones. I like him ten times as much as the Disciples, that poor bastard.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "atheism", "slug": "atheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/atheism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_14", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "2e791de9-bd8c-4fd3-b948-077d311e33d0", "slug": "i-dont-give", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/i-dont-give", "text": "I don't give a damn, except that I get bored sometimes when people tell me to act my age. Sometimes I act a lot older than I am — I really do — but people never notice it. People never notice anything.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "growing up", "slug": "growing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "2e26b066-95ea-442a-be21-3d1c6619021a", "slug": "the-mark-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/the-mark-of-the", "text": "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "growing up", "slug": "growing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/growing-up" }, { "name": "sacrifice", "slug": "sacrifice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sacrifice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_24", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "28f3370c-97aa-4575-847e-29b5727002bd", "slug": "what-i-mean", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/what-i-mean", "text": "What I mean is, lots of time you don't know what interests you most till you start talking about something that doesn't interest you most. I mean you can't help it sometimes. What I think is, you're supposed to leave somebody alone if he's at least being interesting and he's getting all excited about something. I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice. You just didn't know this teacher, Mr. Vinson. He could drive you crazy sometimes, him and the goddam class. I mean he'd keep telling you to unify and simplify all the time. Some things you just can't do that to. I mean you can't hardly ever simplify and unify something just because somebody wants you to.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "conversation", "slug": "conversation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conversation" }, { "name": "passion", "slug": "passion-2", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/passion-2" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_24", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "23c77d18-6b6a-46c1-a8b0-544ede054439", "slug": "the-trouble-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/the-trouble-with", "text": "The trouble with girls is, if they like a boy, no matter how big a bastard he is, they'll say he has an inferiority complex, and if they don't like him, no matter how nice a guy he is, or how big an inferiority complex he has, they'll say he's conceited. Even smart girls do it.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_18", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "228ea9f3-27a3-43be-ae25-d67b16e14af5", "slug": "i-dont-understand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/i-dont-understand", "text": "I don't understand boring guys. I really don't.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "boredom", "slug": "boredom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/boredom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_17", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "17c13a01-bbc9-4cfa-b1ef-5501989c5e02", "slug": "its-funny-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/its-funny-all", "text": "It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_21", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "04638fb3-f61c-4a3d-aa1a-c43fff8203fb", "slug": "among-other-things", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/among-other-things", "text": "Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them — if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_24", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" }, { "id": "045acfb9-d557-4ae4-86c0-fc42e47568fc", "slug": "its-full-of-phonies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/its-full-of-phonies", "text": "It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques. The guys that are on the basketball team stick together, the Catholics stick together, the goddam intellectuals stick together, the guys that play bridge stick together. Even the guys that belong to the goddam Book-of-the-Month club stick together.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" }, { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_17", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:48" } ] }