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Quote by J. D. Salinger

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franny and zooey

J.D. Salinger's narrative delves into the complex emotional and psychological journeys of the Glass family, particularly focusing on the spiritual awakening of Franny and the struggles of Zooey to find his own path in life. more

Author

J. D. Salinger
J. D. Salinger

J. D. Salinger was an American writer renowned for his reclusive personality and his seminal novel, 'The Catcher in the Rye'. Born on January 1, 1919, Salinger lived much of his life in seclusion, rarely engaging with the public. His novel, published in 1951, became an instant classic and a cornerstone of American literature. Salinger's writing is characterized by its introspective and complex depiction of teenage alienation and angst. more

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“I went to bed last night utterly dejected; I thought I was never going to amount to anything, and that you had thrown away your money for nothing. But what do you think? I woke up this morning with a beautiful new plot in my head, and I've been going about all day planning my characters, just as happy as I could be. No one can ever accuse me of being a pessimist! If I had a husband and twelve children swallowed by an earthquake one day, I'd bob up smilingly the next morning and commence to look for another set. ~Jershua Abbott”

“Youth fades, love droops, the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all.”

“I'd been staying at the Holiday Inn with my girlfriend, honestly the most beautiful woman I'd ever known, for three days under a phony name, shooting heroin. We made love in the bed, ate steaks at the restaurant, shot up in the john, puked, cried, accused one another, begged of one another, forgave, promised, and carried one another to heaven.”

“I wandered over across the hall where they were showing a short movie about vasectomies. Much later I told her that I'd actually gotten a vasectomy a long time ago, and somebody else must have gotten her pregnant. I also told her once that I had inoperable cancer and would soon be passed away and gone, eternally. But nothing I could think up, no matter how dramatic or horrible, ever made her repent or love me the way she had at first, before she really knew me.”

“Words... They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good any more... I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead.”

“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”