Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch Quotes

“Atticus, he was real nice...” His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me. “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.”

“Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in.”

“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.”

“Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts.”

“I was taught never to take advantage of anyone who was less fortunate than myself, whether he be less fortunate in brains, wealth, or social position; it meant anybody, not just Negroes.”

“As a general rule, most women, before they’ve got ‘em, present to their men smiling, agreeing faces. They hide their thoughts. You now, when you’re feeling hateful, honey, you are hateful.”

“She went to him. ‘Atticus,’ she said. ‘I’m—’ ‘You may be sorry, but I’m proud of you.’ She looked up and saw her father beaming at her. ‘What?’ ‘I said I’m proud of you.’ ‘I don’t understand you. I don’t understand men at all and I never will.’ ‘Well, I certainly hoped a daughter of mine’d hold her ground for what she thinks is right—stand up to me first of all.‘”

“I learned nothing from you except how to be suspicious. I didn’t know what hate was until I lived among you and saw you hating every day.”

“She must now go into a word of femininity, a world she despised, could not comprehend nor defend herself against, a world that did not want her.”

“You deny them hope. Any man in this world, Atticus, any man who has a head and arms and legs, was born with hope in his heart. You won’t find that in the Constitution, I picked that up in church somewhere. They are simple people, most of them, but that doesn’t make them subhuman.”

“I despise you and everything you stand for.”

“She did not stand alone, but what stood behind her, the most potent moral force in her life, was the love of her father. She never questioned it, never thought about it, never even realized that before she made any decision of importance the reflex, ‘What would Atticus do?’ passed through her unconscious; she never realized what made her dig in her feet and stand firm whenever she did was her father; that whatever was decent and of good report in her character was put there by her father; she did not know that she worshiped him.”

“I just don’t like my world disturbed without some warning.”