“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.”

“But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.”

“Calpurnia was something else again. She was all angles and bones; she was nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard.”

“The Radley place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house.”

“Inside the [Radley] house lived a malevolent phantom.”

“Molasses buckets appeared from nowhere, and the ceiling danced with metallic light.”

“Jem gulped down his second glassful and slapped his chest.”

“He sounded fishy to me. No one in Maycomb just went for a walk.”

“On the days he carried the watch, Jem walked on eggs.”

“‘Ar-r, Miss Maudie can’t chew gum–‘ Jem broke into a grin.”

“Atticus said, ‘Whoa, son,’ so gently that I was greatly heartened.”

“‘He’s gonna make me some invisible ink, and I’m gonna write to Dill in it.’”

“...I should be a ray of sunshine in my father’s lonely life.”

“He walked quickly, but I thought he moved like an underwater swimmer...”

“Jem yanked my hair, said he didn’t care, he’d do it again if he had the chance, and if I didn’t shut up he’d pull every hair out of my head.”

“I never thought Jem’d be the one to lose his head over this–”

“Punk, punk, punk, her needle broke the taut circle.”

“‘Cecil Jacobs is a big wet he-en!’”

“My feathers rose again. ‘You tryin’ to tell me what to do?’”