Top 41 Harper Lee Quotes About Life (COURAGE)

Top 10 Most Famous Harper Lee Quotes (BEST)

“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.”
Harper Lee

Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. — Real **courage** is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it. — You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.

Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it. — Many receive advice, only the **wise** profit from it.

As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth. — As you grow up, always tell the **truth**, do no harm to others, and don’t think you are the most important being on earth.

You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don't you let 'em get your goat. Try fightin' with your head for a change. — You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ’em get your goat. Try fightin’ with your head for a **change**.

Before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience. — Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing. — Until I **feared** I would lose it, I never loved to **read**. One does not love breathing.

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

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. — 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.

8 Harper Lee Quotes that Will Make You Think

“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… 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, and you can look down the street and see the results.”
Harper Lee

Don't you study about other folks's business till you take care of your own. — Don’t you **study** about other folks’s **business** till you take care of your own.

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

People in their right minds never take pride in their talents. — People in their right minds never take pride in their **talents**.

“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 faster than adults, and evasion simply muddles ’em.”
Harper Lee

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.

Prejudice, a dirty word, and faith, a clean one, have something in common: they both begin where reason ends.

I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.

2 Harper Lee Quotes About Reading

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. — The book to **read** is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that.

You've really got to start hitting the books because it's no joke out here. — You’ve really got to start hitting the books because it’s no joke out here.

7 Harper Lee Quotes About Writing

“So many writers don’t like to write… I like to write, and sometimes I’m afraid I like it too much, because when I get into work, I don’t want to leave it. And as a result, I’ll go for days and days and days without leaving my house.”
Harper Lee

I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird'… I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. — I never expected any sort of **success** with ‘Mockingbird’… I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me **encouragement**.

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide. — I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing **career** that before developing his **talent** he would be wise to develop a thick hide.

“Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself… It’s a self-exploratory operation that is endless. An exorcism of not necessarily his demon, but of his divine discontent.”
Harper Lee

I have no time to think about other writers. I am too busy with my own problems. — I have no **time** to think about other writers. I am too busy with my own problems.

“It was something I never expected to – I never expected the book would sell in the first place. I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers.”
Harper Lee

I hoped to be able to write a novel which would enable me to live on it while I wrote the next.

4 InspirationalHarper Lee Quotes

We're paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It's that simple. — We’re paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We **trust** him to do right. It’s that simple.

Things are always better in the morning. — Things are always better in the **morning**.

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

10 Harper Lee Quotes About Life

“As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it — 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.”
Harper Lee

Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts. — Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts.

Folks don't like to have somebody around knowing more than they do. — Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowing more than they do.

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. — 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.

“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.”
Harper Lee

In New York you are your own person. You may reach out and embrace all of Manhattan in sweet aloneness, or you can go to hell if you want to. — In **New York** you are your own person. You may reach out and embrace all of Manhattan in sweet aloneness, or you can go to hell if you want to.

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

“If there’s just one kind of folks, why can’t they get along with each other? If they’re all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? 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.”
Harper Lee