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

J. D. Salinger

The worst thing that being an artist could do to you would be that it would make you slightly unhappy constantly.
J. D. SALINGER

Art Happiness Worst
Did you ever get fed up?’ I said. ‘I mean did you ever get scared that everything was going to go lousy unless you did something?
J. D. SALINGER

Action Fear Yourself
Why’s it so sunny? she repeated. Zooey observed her rather narrowly. I bring the sun wherever I go, buddy, he said.
J. D. SALINGER

Herself Sun
Don’t hate me because I can’t remember some person immediately. Especially when they look like everybody else, and talk and dress and act like everybody else.
J. D. SALINGER

Act Hate Myself Person Remember Talk
You can’t stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it.
J. D. SALINGER

Teaching Yourself
We don’t talk, we hold forth. We don’t converse, we expound.
J. D. SALINGER

Talk
I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it. I’m crazy. I swear to God I am.
J. D. SALINGER

Crazy God Herself Lie Love Myself
Sentimentality is loving something more than God does.
J. D. SALINGER

Emotional God Love
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

Laugh Myself Stupidity
But it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways. He never got mad at anybody. People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie never did, and he had very red hair.
J. D. SALINGER

Easy Family Hairs Himself Mad People
We are, all four of us, blood relatives, and we speak a kind of esoteric, family language, a sort of semantic geometry in which the shortest distance between any two points is a fullish circle.
J. D. SALINGER

Distance Family Kind Language Relationship Talk
Its really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs.
J. D. SALINGER

People Rich
If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she’s late? Nobody.
J. D. SALINGER

Girl Herself Time
I’m sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.
J. D. SALINGER

Courage Myself Sickness
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

Cold Crazy Kind Road Sun Time
I mean they don’t seem able to love us just the way we are. They don’t seem able to love us unless they can keep changing us a little bit. They love their reasons for loving us almost as much as they love us, and most of the time more.
J. D. SALINGER

Change Love Myself Reason Time

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

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

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Popular Authors

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