J. D. Salinger

I don't even know what I was running for—I guess I just felt like it.

His eldest sister (who modestly prefers to be identified here as a Tuckahoe homemaker) has asked me to describe him as looking like 'the blue-eyed Jewish-Irish Mohican scout who died in your arms at the roulette table at Monte Carlo.

Some people you shouldn't kid, even if they deserve it.

It's partly true, too, but it isn't all true. People always think something's all true.

Don't you think I have sense enough to worry about my motives for saying the prayer? That's exactly what's bothering me so. Just because I'm choosy about what I want - in this case, enlightenment or peace, instead or money or prestige or game or any of those things, doesn't mean I'm not as egotistical and self-seeking as everybody else. If anything, I'm more so!

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.

This is God's universe, buddy, not yours, and he has the final say about what's ego and what isn't.

Your heart, Bessie, is an autumn garage.