40+ Tom Robinson Quotes To Help Your 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Studies

Published in 1960, 'To Kill A Mockingbird' ('TKAM') is a successful novel written by the Presidential Medal of Freedom award-winning American novelist Harper Lee.

The story is narrated by Scout who lives with her brother Jem and father Atticus, who is a distinguished lawyer. They live in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.

Tom Robinson is an African-American man who works in the Link Deas' cotton fields. Of all Tom Robinson character traits, he stands out for being kind and loving.

This is what makes him most endearing, especially to his wife Helen and their children. In the book, Tom is charged with assaulting a 19-year-old white woman, Mayella Ewell and the judge assigns the Tom Robinson case to lawyer Atticus.

During the helpless moments of his trial, Tom Robinson portrays great courage by only telling the truth about what happened during his interactions with Mayella Ewell. But, when he realizes that he stands no chance against a biased jury, he decides to escape custody, during which he is sadly shot dead.

Atticus says "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird".

And when Tom Robinson is shot dead, a comparison is drawn where Tom is seens as the "mockingbird" of the book. He represents this because he is someone who didn't intend any harm to others and only wished to help.

Check out these Tom Robinson 'To Kill A Mockingbird' quotes to follow the gritty tale, and if you're looking for more quotes, do try our Harper Lee quotes and Atticus quotes too.
 

'To Kill A Mockingbird' Quotes About Tom Robinson

Here are a few Tom Robinson quotes. 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is a powerful book with many important quotes, including some Tom Robinson trial quotes that show his immense courage.

1. "Tom Robinson: Looks like she didn't have nobody to help her. I felt right sorry for her. She seemed...

Prosecutor: You felt sorry for her? A white woman? You felt sorry for her?"

2. "Prosecutor: Were you so scared that she'd hurt you, you ran, a big buck like you?"

Tom Robinson: No suh, I's scared I'd be in court, just like I am now.

Prosecutor: Scared of arrest, scared you'd have to face up to what you did?"

Tom Robinson: No suh, scared I'd hafta face up to what I didn't do."

3. "I picks for Mr. Link Deas... I works pretty steady for him all year round."

-Tom Robinson, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

4. "There is only the here and now. The past is gone, forgotten."

-Tom Robinson, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

5. "I can't use my left hand at all. I got it caught in a cotton gin when I was twelve years old. All my muscles were tore loose."

-Tom Robinson, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

Tom Robinson's Lawyer, Atticus Finch Quotes

These Atticus quotes from 'To Kill A Mockingbird' show the honest nature of the just Lawyer who represented Tom Robinson. The 'To Kill A Mockingbird' trial and Tom Robinson's testimony form important parts of the book.

6. "Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

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

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.

8. "No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

9. "He's the same in the court-room as he is on the public streets."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

10. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

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

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

12. "People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

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

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

14. "This time we aren’t fighting the Yankees, we’re fighting our friends. But remember this, no matter how bitter things get, they’re still our friends and this is still our home."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

15. "There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

Quotes By Calpurnia And Jem From 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

Here are a few Jem quotes. 'To Kill A Mockingbird' fans might recognize these, along with some Calpurnia quotes. 'To Kill A Mockingbird' touches heavily on themes of race, as seen in some of these quotes.

16. "Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... it's because he wants to stay inside."

-Jeremy 'Jem' Atticus, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

17."I thought I wanted to be a lawyer but I ain’t so sure now!"

-Jeremy 'Jem' Atticus, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

18. "There's some folks who don't eat like us but, you ain’t called on to contradict ’em at the table when they don’t. That boy's yo' comp'ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you hear?"

-Calpurnia, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

19. "Dill, I had to tell him... You can’t run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin'."

-Jeremy 'Jem' Atticus, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

20. "Hush your mouth! Don’t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house’s yo’ comp’ny, and don’t you let me catch you remarkin’ on their ways like you was so high and mighty!"

-Calpurnia, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

Important Quotes From 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

Here's some 'TKAM' quotes from Scout in 'To Kill A Mockingbird', and some quotes of courage in 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'

21. "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. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

22. "I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with."

-Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

23. "Then I saw the shadow. It was the shadow of a man with a hat on. At first, I thought it was a tree, but there was no wind blowing, and tree trunks never walked."

-Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

24. "Sometimes you just need to be brave and think before you react to these people."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

25. "I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the second time in my life, I thought of running away. Immediately."

-Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

Themes In 'To Kill A Mockingbird' With Quotes

These 'To Kill A Mockingbird' setting quotes and race quotes in 'To Kill A Mockingbird' are important to read. We should all learn from these 'TKAM' racism quotes.

26. "Cry about the simple hell people give other people – without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people, too."

-Dolphus Raymond, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

27. "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop... somehow it was hotter then... bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square."

-Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

28. "There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads – they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

29. "You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here—they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal?"

-Lula, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

30. "There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County."

-Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

Famous Quotes To Remember From 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

'To Kill A Mockingbird' is a lesson to every one of us, to understand how we should treat everyone equally and right, not just in court.

31. "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."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

32. "People don’t like to have somebody knowing more than they do. It aggravates them."

-Calpurnia, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

33. "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, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

34. "Are you proud of yourself tonight that you have insulted a total stranger whose circumstances you know nothing about?"

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

35. "I do my best to love every day."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

36. "I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year."

-Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

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

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

38. "I try to give’em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason."

-Dolphus Raymond, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

39. "With him, life was routine; without him, life was unbearable."

-Jean Louise Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

40. "It’s not time to worry yet..."

-Atticus Finch, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 40+ Tom Robinson quotes, then why not take a look at these Jem Finch quotes, or Scout quotes for more quotes by Harper Lee.

Main image credit: Mubasil Z A / Shutterstock.com