12 Times Harper Lee's Words Stopped Us In Our Tracks

The "To Kill a Mockingbird" author died on Feb. 19. Here are some of the great lines she left behind.
Chicago Tribune via Getty Images

Harper Lee, the beloved American writer best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, has died at the age of 89 in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

During her lifetime, Lee produced one of the most popular bits of required reading, a book filled with profound quotes from unforgettable characters like Atticus, Scout and even Miss Maudie. While Lee was famously media shy, rarely granting her fans the privilege of hearing her speak in public, To Kill a Mockingbird -- and her more recently published work, Go Set a Watchman -- stand as reminders of Lee's ability to stop readers in their tracks with just a few words.

Here are 12 quotes that embody the legacy Lee leaves behind:

HPMG

"I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks." -To Kill a Mockingbird

"Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts." -To Kill a Mockingbird

HPMG

"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." -To Kill a Mockingbird

"You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anyone says to you, don’t let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change … it’s a good one, even if it does resist learning." -To Kill a Mockingbird

HPMG

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

"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." -To Kill a Mockingbird

HPMG

"As sure as time, history is repeating itself, and as sure as man is man, history is the last place he’ll look for his lessons." -Go Set a Watchman

"'Atticus, he was real nice.' 'Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.'" -To Kill a Mockingbird

'To Kill A Mockingbird' 50th Anniversary

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot