# Quote — J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

> The thing is, most of the time when you're coming pretty close to doing it with a girl — a girl that isn't a prostitute or anything, I mean — she keeps telling you to stop. The trouble with me is, I stop. Most guys don't. I can't help it. You never know whether they really want you to stop, or whether they're just scared as hell, or whether they're just telling you to stop so that if you do go through with it, the blame'll be on you, not them. Anyway, I keep stopping.

- Author: [J.D. Salinger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger.md)
- Book: [The Catcher in the Rye](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Chapter_13) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/the-thing-is-most

## More from this book

> My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway. I didn't care though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don't know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could've been there.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/my-hunting-hat.md)

> 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.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/a-lot-of-people.md)

> 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.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jd-salinger/the-catcher-in-the-rye/d-b-asked-me-what.md)