The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. D. Salinger, partially published in serial form in 1945–1946 and as a novel in 1951. It was originally intended for adults but is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst, alienation, and as a critique on superficiality in society. It has been translated widely. Profoundly inspirational The Catcher in The Rye quotes will challenge the way you think, and make your life worth living.
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Famous The Catcher in The Rye Quotes
I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy
I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it
What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though
I think that one of these days you’re going to have to find out where you want to go. And then you’ve got to start going there. But immediately. You can’t afford to lose a minute. Not you
Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.
The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.
I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it.
I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all
I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It’s nice
I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot
I think that one of these days you’re going to have to find out where you want to go. And then you’ve got to start going there. But immediately. You can’t afford to lose a minute.
Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying. Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours
The cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place, his parents paid no attention to him, and he kept on walking next to the curb and singing ‘If a body catches a body coming through the rye.’ It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed any more.
Certain things should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that’s impossible, but it’s too bad anyway
People never notice anything
I thought what I’d do was, I’d pretend I was one of those deaf mutes If anybody wanted to tell me something, they’d have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They’d get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I’d be through with having conversations for the rest of my life.
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one
It’s funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they’ll do practically anything you want them to
I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot
Lots of times you don’t know what interests you most till you start talking
I live in New York, and I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go? I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away.
That’s the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they’re not much to look at, or even if they’re sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. They can drive you crazy. They really can
The thing is, it’s really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs if yours are really good ones and theirs aren’t.
The guy I like best in the Bible, next to Jesus, was that lunatic and all, that lived in the tombs and kept cutting himself with stones. I like him ten times as much as the disciples
The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it is bad to say anything to them.
What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though
I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would’ve, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed.
I’m just going through a phase right now. Everybody goes through phases and all, don’t they
Lawyers are all right, I guess but it doesn’t appeal to me, I said. I mean they’re all right if they go around saving innocent guys’ lives all the time, and like that, but you don’t do that kind of stuff if you’re a lawyer. All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot shot.
I am always saying Glad to’ve met you’ to somebody I’m not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though
I don’t even know what I was running for I guess I just felt like it
I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It’s nice
Grand. There’s a word I really hate. It’s a phony. I could puke every time I hear it.
The thing is, it’s really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs
A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I’m going to apply myself when I go back to school next September. It’s such a stupid question, in my opinion. I mean how do you know what you’re going to do till you do it?
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one
It always smelled like it was raining outside, even if it wasn’t, and you were in the only nice, dry, cozy place in the world
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
My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder’s mitt. He was left handed. The thing that was descriptive about it though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. He wrote them on it so that he’d have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up to bat. He’s dead now.
I was trying to feel some kind of good bye. I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don’t care if it’s a sad good bye or a bad good bye, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t you feel even worse.
Girls. You never know what they’re going to think
If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don’t watch it, you start showing off. And then you’re not as good any more
In the first place, my parents are of different religions, and all the children in our family are atheists.
I can be quite sarcastic when I’m in the mood
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 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
If you want to know the truth, I can’t even stand ministers. The ones they’ve had at every school I’ve gone to, they all have these Holy Joe voices when they start giving their sermons. God, I hate that
I don’t even know what I was running for I guess I just felt like it
It’s really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes
Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rule
This fall I think you’re riding for it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling.
People never notice anything
People always clap for the wrong reasons
It’s partly true, too, but it isn’t all true. People always think something’s all true
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
That’s something that drives me crazy. When people say something twice that way, after you admit it the first time
He was singing that song, If a body catch a body coming through the rye. He had a pretty little voice too.
You can’t stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it
Make sure you marry someone who laughs at the same things you do
I’m just going through a phase right now. Everybody goes through phases and all, don’t they?
Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying. Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours.
I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. It’s terrible.
The whole arrangement designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn’t supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started.
What I like best is a book that’s at least funny once in awhile.
That’s the whole trouble. You can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any.
What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though
People never think anything is anything really
I can be quite sarcastic when I’m in the mood
