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People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.

Harper Lee

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Harper Lee
Age: 89 †
Born: 1926
Born: April 28
Died: 2016
Died: February 19
Musician
Novelist
Poet Lawyer
Prosaist
Screenwriter
Writer
Monroeville
Alabama
Nelle Harper Lee
Listen
Hear
Powerful
Look
Looks
People
Mockingbird
Empathy
Generally

More quotes by Harper Lee

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We said good-bye, and Dill went inside the house. He evidently remembered he was engaged to me, for he ran back out and kissed me swiftly in front of Jem. Yawl write, hear? he bawled after us.
Harper Lee
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When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake.
Harper Lee
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I say guilt, gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society.
Harper Lee
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Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they're not attracting attention with it.
Harper Lee
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Long ago, in a burst of friendliness, Aunty and Uncle Jimmy produced a son named Henry.
Harper Lee
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So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children.
Harper Lee
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My father is one of the few men I've known who has genuine humility, and it lends him a natural dignity. He has absolutely no ego drive, and so he is one of the most beloved men in this part of the state.
Harper Lee
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In Maycomb, if one went for a walk with no definite purpose in mind, it was correct to believe one's mind incapable of definite purpose.
Harper Lee
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I try to give'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason.
Harper Lee
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I don't hafta take his sass
Harper Lee
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I shall never marry, Atticus. Why? I might have children.
Harper Lee
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Things are never as bad as they seem.
Harper Lee
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People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.
Harper Lee
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Naturally, you don't sit down in white hot inspiration and write with a burning flame in front of you. But since I knew I could never be happy being anything but a writer, and Mockingbird put itself together for me so accommodatingly, I kept at it because I knew it had to be my first novel, for better or for worse.
Harper Lee
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...in other words, all I want to be is the Jane Austen of south Alabama Interview - March 1964
Harper Lee
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Rest assured, as long as I am alive any book purporting to be with my cooperation is a falsehood.
Harper Lee
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Writing is a process of self-discipline you must learn before you can call yourself a writer. There are people who write, but I think they're quite different from people who must write.
Harper Lee
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Dill was off again. Beautiful things floated around in his dreamy head. He could read two books to my one, but he preferred the magic of his own inventions. He could add and subtract faster than lightning, but he preferred his own twilight world, a world where babies slept, waiting to be gathered like morning lilies.
Harper Lee
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I don't want to hear any words like that while I'm here. Scout, you'll get in trouble if you go around saying things like that. You want to grow up to be a lady, don't you?' I said not particularly.
Harper Lee
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When stalking one’s prey, it is best to take one’s time. Say nothing, and as sure as eggs he will become curious and emerge.
Harper Lee