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Why are you breaking down, incidentally? I mean if you’re able to go into a collapse with all your might, why can’t you use the same energy to stay well and busy?

J. D. Salinger

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J. D. Salinger
Age: 91 †
Born: 1919
Born: January 1
Died: 2010
Died: January 27
Author
Novelist
Writer
New York City
New York
Jerome David Salinger
Jerome Salinger
Energy
Able
Wells
Incidentally
Might
Collapse
Well
Breaking
Mean
Busy
Stay
Use

More quotes by J. D. Salinger

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If Death stepped miraculously through the glass and came in after you, in all probability you just got up and went along with him, ferociously but quietly.
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If I'd wanted this place to fill up with every fat Irish rose that passes by, I'd've said so.
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But I was afraid of the questions (much more than the accusations) you might both put to me.
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Give me a story that just makes me unreasonably vigilant. Keep me up till five only because all your stars are out, and for no other reason.
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In every school I've gone to, all the athletic bastards stick together.
J. D. Salinger
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I have scars on my hands from touching certain people…Certain heads, certain colours and textures of human hair leave permanent marks on me.
J. D. Salinger
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If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me.
J. D. Salinger
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Some people you shouldn't kid, even if they deserve it.
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Were most of your stars out? Were you busy writing your heart out?
J. D. Salinger
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Life is a gift horse in my opinion.
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Let's just try to have a marvelous time this weekend. I mean not try to analyze everything to death for once, if possible. Especially me. I love you.
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When I really worry about something, I don’t just fool around. I even have to go to the bathroom when I worry about something. Only, I don’t go. I’m too worried to go. I don’t want to interrupt my worrying to go.
J. D. Salinger
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I know he's dead! Don't you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can't I? Just because somebody's dead, you don't just stop liking them, for God's sake--especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that're alive and all.
J. D. Salinger
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I mean most girls are so dumb and all. After you neck them for a while, you can really watch them losing their brains. You take a girl when she really gets passionate, she just hasn't any brains. -Holden Caulfield
J. D. Salinger
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If I were God, I certainly wouldn't want people to love me sentimentally. It's too unreliable.
J. D. Salinger
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I don't even know what I was running for—I guess I just felt like it.
J. D. Salinger
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Yet a real artist, I've noticed, will survive anything. (Even praise, I happily suspect.)
J. D. Salinger
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You know, I'm the only one in this family who has no problems, . . . And you know why? Because any time I'm feeling blue, or puzzled , what I do, I just invite a few people to come visit me in the bathroom, and--well, we iron things out together, that's all.
J. D. Salinger
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I'd swear to God, if I were a piano player or an actor or something and all those dopes thought I was terrific, I'd hate it. I wouldn't even want them to clap for me. People always clap for the wrong things. If I were a piano player, I'd play it in the goddam closet.
J. D. Salinger
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I’m just sick of ego, ego, ego. My own and everybody else’s. I’m sick of everybody that wants to get somewhere, do something distinguished and all, be somebody interesting. It’s disgusting.
J. D. Salinger