Outsiders Quotes

“That’s stupid, I thought swiftly, they’ve both come here to fight and they’re both supposed to be smarter than that. What difference does the side make?”

“‘Oh no!’ My hand flew to my hair. ‘No, Johnny, not my hair!‘”

“I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.”

“Well, I won’t. But I gotta do something. It seems like there’s gotta be someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people. Plain, ordinary people.”

“You’re a traitor to your own kind and not loyal to us.”

“Our one rule besides, Stick together is, Don’t get caught.”

“You take up for your buddies no matter what they do. When you’re in a gang, you stick up for the members.”

“They shouldn’t hate each other . . . I don’t hate the Socs any more . . . they shouldn’t hate . . .”

“Stay Gold.”

“Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.”

“Johnny almost grinned as he nodded. “Tuff enough,” he managed, and by the way his eyes were glowing, I figured Southern gentlemen had nothing on Johnny Cade.”

“It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset.”

“I’ve been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you’re a kid everything’s new, dawn. It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That’s gold. Keep that way, it’s a good way to be.”

“Get smart and nothing can touch you.”

“I’d rather have anybody’s hate than their pity.”

“Skin fighting isn’t rough. It blows off steam better than anything.”

“The dawn was coming then. All the lower valley was covered with mist, and sometimes little pieces of it broke off and floated away in small clouds. The sky was lighter in the east, and the horizon was a thin golden line. The clouds changed from gray to pink, and the mist was touched with gold. There was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the sun rose. It was beautiful.”

“If we don’t have each other, we don’t have anything.”

“I liked my books and clouds and sunsets.”

“Things are rough all over.”

“They used to be buddies, I thought, they used to be friends, and now they hate each other because one has to work for a living and the other comes from the West Side.”

“You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There’s still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don’t think he knows.”

“You get tough like me and you don’t get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin’ can touch you...”

“He sure put things into words good.”

“You know the rules. No jazz before a rumble.”

“We can do our family members down as much as we like. But the second an outsider insults them our blood seethes. At the end of the day I don’t like him- but I love him. And I see my own failures in him.”