45+ Best Atticus Quotes From 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

Atticus Finch was an exceptional character who was a lawyer and a father of two in Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'To Kill A Mocking Bird'.

Atticus Finch was a wonderful father and human being. He should be the role model of all new fathers because of his wise principles and love for people and truth.

His most memorable quote tells us how it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. If you are looking for more like these, here is a list that will inspire you. If you like our content, you can check out other articles like, Scout quotes and Jem Finch quotes.

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Atticus' Quotes On Being A Good Father

Atticus Finch was a great father to two kids, Scout and Jem. Here is a list of some famous book quotes by Atticus Finch addressed to his children as well as quotes about how good a parent he is. Check out these Atticus Finch 'To Kill A Mockingbird' book quotes.

1. "Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one's mine, I guess. You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down."

-Chapter nine.

2. "Don't pay any attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman."

-Chapter nine.

3. "It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived."

-Scout, chapter 11.

4. "So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses...That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hm, maybe we need a police force of children."

-Chapter 16.

5. "No matter what anybody says to you, don't you let 'em get your goat."

-Chapter nine.

6. "Scout: Atticus, he was real nice.

Atticus: Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.'"

-Chapter 31.

7. "Sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down—well, all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you'll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn't let you down."

-Chapter 11.

8. "Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I've tried to live so I can look squarely back at him."

-Chapter 30.

9. "I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well...when I asked Atticus about it, he said there were already enough sunbeams in the family and to go on about my business, he didn't mind me much the way I was."

-Chapter nine.

10. "When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles 'em."

-Chapter nine.

11. "Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they're not attracting attention with it."

-Chapter nine.

12. "You children last night made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute. That was enough."

-Chapter 16.

13. "Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts."

-Scout, chapter Seven.

14. "Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in."

-Scout, chapter 15.

15. "Jem: Did she die free?

Atticus: As the mountain air."

-Chapter 11.

16. "First of all, if you learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks."

-Chapter three.

Famous Atticus Finch Quotes About Equality And Racism

Atticus Finch was a man who preached equality in a society that was divided between the blacks and the whites. Here is a list of some famed sayings by Atticus Finch on the importance of equality. Check out these quotes from Atticus Finch.

17. "The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow."

-Chapter 23.

18. "You'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life...whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash."

-Chapter 22.

19. "It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you."

-Chapter 11.

20. "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

-Chapter 11.

21. "Before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself."

-Chapter 11.

22. "Why reasonable people go stark raving mad...is something I don't pretend to understand."

-Chapter nine.

23. "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win."

-Chapter nine.

24. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view."

-Chapter three.

25. "Our courts have their faults as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal."

-Chapter 19.

26. "I do my best to love everybody."

-Chapter 11.

'To Kill A Mockingbird' Quotes By Atticus Finch

Here's a fascinating list of some of the most famous quotes of Atticus Finch from the book.

27. "Best way to clear the air is to have it all out in the open."

-Chapter 30.

28. "There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried."

-Chapter 23.

29. "Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong …"

-Chapter 11.

30. "No, everybody's gotta learn, nobody's born knowin'."

-Chapter 23.

31. "You never really understand a person...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

-Chapter three.

32. "There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing."

-Chapter 18.

33. "Courage is...when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what."

-Chapter 11.

34. "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."

-Chapter 11.

35. "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

-Chapter 10.

36. "It's not time to worry yet…"

-Chapter 11.

37. "It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."

-Chapter 11.

38. "Try fighting with your head for a change… it's a good one, even if it does resist learning."

-Chapter nine.

39. "Jem: How could they do it, how could they?

Atticus: I don't know, but they did it. They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep."

-Chapter 22.

40. "Serving on a jury forces a man to make up his mind and declare himself about something. Men don't like to do that. Sometimes it's unpleasant."

-Chapter 23.

41. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

-Chapter 10.

Quotes About Atticus Finch From The Novel

Here is a list of some quotes about Atticus by other characters in the novel.

42. "Jem and I were accustomed to our father's last-will-and-testament diction, and were at times free to interrupt Atticus for a translation when it was beyond our understanding."

-Scout, chapter three.

43. "There are some men in this world who are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father's one of them."

-Miss Maudie, chapter 22.

44. "Atticus says you can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family, an' they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don't."

-Jem, chapter 23.

45. "Naw, Scout, it's something you wouldn't understand. Atticus is real old, but I wouldn't care if he couldn't do anything—I wouldn't care if he couldn't do a blessed thing."

-Jem, chapter 10.

46. "What I meant was, if Atticus Finch drank until he was drunk he wouldn't be as hard as some men are at their best. 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.."

-Miss Maudie, chapter five.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Atticus quotes then why not take a look at Boo Radley quotes, or Tom Robinson quotes.

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