I mean how do you know what you’re going to do till you do it? The answer is, you don’t. I think I am, but how do I know? I swear it’s a stupid question.
J. D. SALINGERI mean how do you know what you’re going to do till you do it? The answer is, you don’t. I think I am, but how do I know? I swear it’s a stupid question.
J. D. SALINGERWho in the Bible besides Jesus knew–knew–that we’re carrying the Kingdom of Heaven around with us, inside, where we’re all too goddam stupid and sentimental and unimaginative to look?
J. D. SALINGERWhere do the ducks go in the winter?
J. D. SALINGERI can be quite sarcastic when I’m in the mood.
J. D. SALINGERDid 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. SALINGERI’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot.
J. D. SALINGERPeople are mostly hot to have a discussion when you’re not.
J. D. SALINGERGrand. There’s a word I really hate. It’s a phony. I could puke every time I hear it.
J. D. SALINGERHe said you were the only one who was bitter about S’s suicide and the only one who really forgave him for it. The rest of us, he said, were outwardly unbitter and inwardly unforgiving.
J. D. SALINGERIt 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. SALINGERWhy’s it so sunny? she repeated. Zooey observed her rather narrowly. I bring the sun wherever I go, buddy, he said.
J. D. SALINGERI am a kind of paranoid in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.
J. D. SALINGERBut 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. SALINGERYou can’t stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it.
J. D. SALINGERIt’s funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they’ll do practically anything you want them to.
J. D. SALINGERNobody who’s really using his ego, his real ego, has any time for any goddam hobbies.
J. D. SALINGER