To Kill A Mockingbird

It has been big news--the announcement that a new Harper Lee book, Go Set A Watchman, will be released this summer. There has been quite a stir from people who think Ms. Lee is being taken advantage of. I wasn't there, so I won't comment on that, but I have to admit that I'm looking forward to the book.

I have read To Kill A Mockingbird several times, including the last time just a few weeks ago. It never gets old, and I find new treasures every time I read it. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

It’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you.

Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.

Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

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.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

It would be difficult for the next book to be a good as To Kill A Mockingbird, but anything is possible. I can't wait to find out.

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