Doing my college internship at my town's high school brought back some memories of the amazing books I got to read while I was there (mainly because I love reading) and it got me thinking that we quote celebrities and movies all the time, but books get the shorter end of the stick. Here are some of the best quotes from books most of us read in high school.
1. “They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.”
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic book that covers the father of the main character, Scout, defending an African American man in a court case in a racist town during a time where prejudice was in the air. Atticus is saying here that he needs to do what he feels is right, even if others don't agree with him.
2. "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known."
During my internship, the class I was in was finishing up A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens which I have never fully read, but this last line of the book stood out. Carton is saying that he has grown into a selfless man in order to save others and that now, in death, he finally has peace.
3. “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's
why.”
We all know Of Mice and Men by John Steinback and the loving relationship between the big, mice loving Lennie and the realistic thinker George. Lennie may need George to look after him, but they really do always have each other (until George kills Lennie at the end).
4. “I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
Even if you only saw the new movie version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, you know when Daisy says this about her daughter. Daisy's family life isn't going in the most positive direction since she knows the truth about her husband and she hopes her daughter will be a fool, and never know what her future husband will really be doing when she isn't looking.
5. “Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is told by a young teen who has an interesting personality. the last line of this book has been something that has stuck in my head for quite some time. Holden feels that getting close to people will end up destroying you on the inside, showing why he keeps his guard up throughout the book.
6. “You must think for yourself, what you must do. If someone tells you, then you are not trying."
While at my school internship, a senior class read parts of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. This book follows four sets of Chinese mothers and daughters. Though all the characters can get mixed up, An-mei is saying that the Chinese culture makes women feel as though they need a man to decide everything for them, but here An-mei is saying that isn't the case. You must work hard for your independence, but you do deserve it.
7. "I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love"
Though every high school student mat not read Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee, they must have heard of this gothic poetry master. This being one of his "softer" works, shows the strengths love has, no matter how old you are or how far away (including death).
