The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye

supplementals

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I thought the two ugly ones, Marty and Laverne, were sisters, but they got very insulted when I asked them. You could tell neither one of them wanted to look like the other one, and you couldn’t blame them, but it was very amusing anyway.

‘The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.’”

I’m always saying “Glad to’ve met you” to somebody I’m not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.

New York’s terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed.

I mean you’d be different in some way—I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it.

I’d have this rule that nobody could do anything phony when they visited me. If anybody tried to do anything phony, they couldn’t stay.

The terrible part, though, is that I meant it when I asked her. That’s the terrible part. I swear to God I’m a madman.

What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don’t care if it’s a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse.

Almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad.

The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has—I’m not kidding.