71 Best J. D. Salinger Quotes From The Catcher In The Rye Author

Divya Raghav
Dec 12, 2023 By Divya Raghav
Originally Published on Mar 10, 2021
Edited by Isobel Murphy
A book and cup of tea with a book shelf in the background.

Jerome David Salinger, fondly known as J.D. Salinger, was born on 1 January 1919.

J. D. Salinger was a writer from New York, United States. He was best known for his bestseller novel, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

As well as being an acclaimed author, J.D. Salinger served in World War II. In The New Yorker, his critically acclaimed story named 'A Perfect Day For Bananafish' was published in 1948.

Along with his most famous novel, J.D. Salinger wrote a short story collection named 'Nine Stories', a short story called 'Franny And Zooey', and novellas named 'Seymour: An Introduction' and 'Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters'. His most famous quote is, "there are still a few men who love desperately."

We have collected some of the greatest J D Salinger quotes below. If you liked reading these J D Salinger quotes, you could also check out these Holden Caulfield quotes or Mark Twain quotes.
 

Famous J. D. Salinger Quotes

Read these J.D. Salinger quotes from different parts of life.

1. "People never notice anything."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

2. "But I’m crazy. I swear to God I am."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

3. "Don't ever tell anybody anything."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

4. "I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

5. "I don't exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

6. "The true poet has no choice of material. The material plainly chooses him, not he, it."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Seymour: An Introduction.'

7. "I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

8. "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'.

9. "You can't stop a teacher when they want to do something."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

10. "I have no... authority to be speaking up like a seer... We’ve had enough seers in this family."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

11. "He said I was unequipped to meet life because I had no sense of humor."

- J. D. Salinger, 'For Esmé - With Love And Squalor'.

12. "An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

13. "I mean not try to analyze everything to death for once, if possible, especially me."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

14. "Listen, if you're not going to be a nun or something, you might as well laugh."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Nine Stories'.

15. "When you're dead, they really fix you up."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

16. "If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? Nobody."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

J.D. Salinger Love Quotes

Read these quotes on love.

17. "Hell is the suffering of being unable to love."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Nine Stories'.

18. "I knew it wasn't too important, but it made me sad anyway."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

19. "I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

20. "You can’t exist in this world with such strong likes and dislikes."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

21. "I love you to pieces."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

22. "She was not one for emptying her face of expression."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

J.D. Salinger 'A Girl I Knew' Quotes

Enjoy these JD Salinger 'A Girl I Knew' quotes.

23. "She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together."

- J. D. Salinger, 'A Girl I Knew'.

24. "The apartment below mine had the only balcony of the house. "

- J. D. Salinger, 'A Girl I Knew'.

J.D. Salinger Quotes On Life

Read some J. D. Salinger quotes on life here.

25. "If sentiment doesn't ultimately make fibbers of some people, their natural abominable memories almost certainly will."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Seymour: An Introduction'.

26. "The world is full of actors pretending to be human."

- J. D. Salinger.

27. "The human voice conspires to desecrate everything on Earth."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters'.

28. "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, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

29. "Know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

30. "People are always ruining things for you."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

J.D. Salinger 'Catcher In The Rye' Quotes

Here, you will find JD Salinger 'Catcher In The Rye' quotes for you to read.

31. "It's really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

32. "All morons hate it when you call them a moron."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

33. "I'd just be the catcher in the rye, and all."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

34. "You’ll find that you’re not the first one who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

35. "Almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

36. "Life is a game that one plays according to the rules."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

37. "It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

38. "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

39. "I know. I’m very hard to talk to. I realize that."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

40. "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, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

41. "Mothers are all slightly insane."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

42. "Lots of times you don’t know what interests you most till you start talking."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

43. "I can be quite sarcastic when I'm in the mood. "

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

44. "If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don't watch it, you start showing off."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

45. "All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

J.D. Salinger 'Franny And Zooey' Quotes

This section has lots of J D Salinger quotes from his book 'Franny And Zooey'.

46. "I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

47. "You're lucky if you get time to sneeze in this... phenomenal world."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

48. "Everything everybody does is so — I don't know — not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid necessarily."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

49. "I don’t know what good it is to know so much and be smart as whips and all if it doesn’t make you happy."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

50. "I like to ride in trains too much."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

51. "If you don’t understand Jesus, you can’t understand his prayer."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

52. "Just because I'm so horribly conditioned to accept everybody else's values, and just because I like applause and people to rave about me, doesn't make it right."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

53. "And I can't be running back and forth forever between grief and high delight."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

J.D. Salinger Quotes On Books

 

Read JD Salinger quotes on books here.

54. "I’ll read my books and I’ll drink coffee and I’ll listen to music, and I’ll bolt the door."

- J. D. Salinger.

55. "Keep me up till five only because all your stars are out, and for no other reason."

- J. D. Salinger.

56. "You think of the book you’d most like to be reading, and then you sit down and shamelessly write it."

- J. D. Salinger.

57. "I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure."

- J. D. Salinger.

58. "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."

- J. D. Salinger.

59. "There is a marvelous peace in not publishing."

- J. D. Salinger.

The Best J. D. Salinger Quotes

Here are some of the best quotes from the author J.D Salinger.

60. "I mean do you have to be a bohemian type, or dead, for Chrissake, to be a real poet?"

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

61. "Oh, this happiness is strong stuff."

- J. D. Salinger.

62. "I was not only twenty-three, but a conspicuously retarded twenty-three."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters'.

63. "Where do the ducks go in the winter?"

- J. D. Salinger.

64. "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."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

65. "You never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. "

- J. D. Salinger.

66. "How do you know you're going to do something until you do it?"

- J. D. Salinger.

67. "I'm up to my ears in unwritten words."

- J. D. Salinger.

68. "Poets are always taking the weather so personally."

- J. D. Salinger.

69. "That little book she carried all around the whole house... is at the whole root of this whole business."

- J. D. Salinger, 'Franny And Zooey'.

70. "I thought what I’d do was I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

- J. D. Salinger.

71. "You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone."

- J. D. Salinger, 'The Catcher In The Rye'.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for J D Salinger quotes, then why not take a look at these Tennessee Williams quotes or Thomas Pynchon quotes too?

Main image credit: Doodeez / Shutterstock.com

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Written by Divya Raghav

Bachelor of Commerce specializing in Accounting and Finance, Master of Business Administration

Divya Raghav picture

Divya RaghavBachelor of Commerce specializing in Accounting and Finance, Master of Business Administration

With a diverse range of experience in finance, administration, and operations, Divya is a diligent worker known for her attention to detail. Born and raised in Bangalore, she completed her Bachelor's in Commerce from Christ University and is now pursuing an MBA at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Bangalore. Along with her professional pursuits, Divya has a passion for baking, dancing, and writing content. She is also an avid animal lover who dedicates her time to volunteering for animal welfare causes.

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