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J. D. Salinger

J. D. Salinger Quotes

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Famous J. D. Salinger Quotes

“It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques.”

IfsGivingBelieveLittlesEnoughAbleTogetherGirlSexLosesStudyTeamFootballSmartSticksDirtyDamnLiquorBeing SmartPhonyFootball TeamCliqueCadillacsHoldenHolden Caulfield
Book:THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
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“I drew laughing, high-breasted girls aquaplaning without a care in the world, as a result of being amply protected against such national evils as bleeding gums, facial blemishes, unsightly hairs, and faulty or inadequate life insurance. I drew housewives who, until they reached for the right soap flakes, laid themselves wide open to straggly hair, poor posture, unruly children, disaffected husbands, rough (but slender) hands, untidy (but enormous) kitchens.”

WorldChildrenHandsCareGirlEvilPoorResultsLaughingHairHusbandWideEnormousKitchenRoughProtectedSoapInadequateBleedingPostureHousewifeGumFacialSlenderFlakesUnruly
Author:J. D. Salinger
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“I think if you don't really like a girl, you shouldn't horse around with her at all, and if you do like her, then you're supposed to like her face, and if you like her face, you ought to be careful about doing crumby stuff to it, like squirting water all over it. It's really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes.”

IfsThinkingSometimesFacesGirlFunStuffWaterOughtHorseCarefulOver ItBe CarefulLike HerHolden Caulfield
Author:J. D. Salinger
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“She was terrific to hold hands with. Most girls if you hold hands with them, their goddam hand dies on you, or else they think they have to keep moving their hand all the time, as if they were afraid they'd bore you or something. Jane was different. We'd get into a goddam movie or something, and right away we'd start holding hands, and we wouldn't quit till the movie was over. And without changing the position or making a big deal out of it. You never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were.”

IfsThinkingDifferentHandsBigsMovingDiesGirlDealsPositionQuittingWorriedBoresTerrificBig DealJaneKeep MovingHolding HandsBores You
Author:J. D. Salinger
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“Lane himself lit a cigarette as the train pulled in. Then, like so many people, who, perhaps, ought to be issued only a very probational pass to meet trains, he tried to empty his face of all expression that might quite simply, perhaps even beautifully, reveal how he felt about the arriving person. Franny was among the first of the girls to get off the train, from a car at the far, northern end of the platform. Lane spotted her immediately, and despite whatever it was he was trying to do with his face, his arm that shot up into the air was the whole truth.”

PeopleTryingFirstsPersonsEndsWholeMightFacesGirlFeltAirCarExpressionArmsOughtShotsEmptyTrainDespitePlatformsCigaretteLitLanesArrivingWhole Truth
Author:J. D. Salinger
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“Sex is something I really don't understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are. I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away. Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass. I broke it, though, the same week I made it - the same night, as a matter of fact.”

KnowsYearsMadeMatterFactsPainLastsNightGirlSexBreakHellWeekHotQuittingAssMade ItBrokeLast YearDeep DownMatter Of FactMaking UpHorsing Around
Author:J. D. Salinger
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