J.D. Salinger’s novel ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ was first published in 1951.
The Catcher in the Rye tells the narrative of Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old who has been expelled from prep school and is dealing with emotions of confusion and disappointment.
I have shortlisted some of the most famous quotes from The Catcher in the Rye.
Table of Contents
The Catcher in the Rye Quotes by J.D. Salinger
“Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“I can be quite sarcastic when I’m in the mood.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“Almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“Sleep tight, ya morons!” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“It’s not too bad when the sun’s out, but the sun only comes out when it feels like coming out.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“Ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“Mothers are all slightly insane.” ~ J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.
Top Books Quotes: Their Eyes Were Watching God Quotes by Zora Neale Hurston and The Lord of the Rings Quotes by J.R.R. Tolkien
Quotes from The Catcher in the Rye
“It’s really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes.” ~ J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.
“People never notice anything.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“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.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“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.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“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.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“And I have one of those very loud, stupid laughs. I mean if I ever sat behind myself in a movie or something, I’d probably lean over and tell myself to please shut up.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“All morons hate it when you call them a moron.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“I wouldn’t exactly describe her as strictly beautiful. She knocked me out, though.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
Famous Quotes from The Catcher in the Rye
“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.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“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.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“If I were a piano player, I’d play it in the goddam closet.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“Make sure you marry someone who laughs at the same things you do.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“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.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“People are always ruining things for you.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“I don’t exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
Greatest The Catcher in the Rye Quotes
“It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or anything, and you felt like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“I knew it wasn’t too important, but it made me sad anyway.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“It’s partly true, too, but it isn’t all true. People always think something’s all true.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“Don’t tell people what you are thinking, or you will miss them terribly when you are away.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“It always smelled like it was raining outside, even if it wasn’t, and you were in the only nice, dry, cosy place in the world.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It’s nice.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“It’s funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they’ll do practically anything you want them to.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
Meaningful The Catcher in the Rye Quotes
“I don’t even know what I was running for – I guess I just felt like it.” ~ J.D. Salinger , The Catcher in the Rye.
“Every time you mention some guy that’s strictly a bastard— very mean, or very conceited and all— and when you mention it to the girl, she’ll tell you he has an inferiority complex. Maybe he has, but that still doesn’t keep him from being a bastard, in my opinion.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“I think that one of these days,” he said, “you’re going to have to find out where you want to go. And then you’ve got to start going there. But immediately. You can’t afford to lose a minute. Not you.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“People never think anything is anything really. I’m getting goddam sick of it.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“I am always saying “Glad to’ve met you” to somebody I’m not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“I know. I’m very hard to talk to. I realize that.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she’s late?” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“That’s the whole trouble. When you’re feeling very depressed, you can’t even think.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
Popular The Catcher in the Rye Quotes
“I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“Grand. There’s a word I really hate. It’s a phony. I could puke every time I hear it.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“People always clap for the wrong reasons.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“The goddam movies. They can ruin you. I’m not kidding.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“If you sat around there long enough and heard all the phonies applauding and all, you got to hate everybody in the world, I swear you did.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“You can’t stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it.” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
“Where do the ducks go in the winter?” ~ J.D. Salinger (quote from The Catcher in the Rye novel).
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