The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

‘Reginald’ (1904) ‘Reginald on Besetting Sins’
Women and elephants never forget an injury.
‘Reginald’ (1904) ‘Reginald on Besetting Sins’
I always say beauty is only sin deep.
‘Reginald’ (1904) ‘Reginald’s Choir Treat’
But, good gracious, you’ve got to educate him first. You can’t expect a boy to be vicious till
he’s been to a good school.
‘Reginald in Russia’ (1910) ‘The Baker’s Dozen’
Addresses are given to us to conceal our whereabouts.
‘Reginald in Russia’ (1910) ‘Cross Currents’
A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
‘The Square Egg’ (1924) ‘Clovis on the Alleged Romance of Business’
Children with Hyacinth’s temperament don’t know better as they grow older; they merely
know more.
‘Toys of Peace and Other Papers’ (1919) ‘Hyacinth’
We all know that Prime Ministers are wedded to the truth, but like other married couples they
sometimes live apart.
‘The Unbearable Bassington’ (1912)
7.8 J. D. Salinger 1919—
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was
born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before
they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it.
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ (1951) ch. 1
What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author
that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you
felt like it.
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ (1951) ch. 3
Sex is something I really don’t understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are. I
keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away.
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ (1951) ch. 9
Take most people, they’re crazy about cars. They worry if they get a little scratch on them, and
they’re always talking about how many miles they get to a gallon, and if they get a brand-new car
already they start thinking about trading it in for one that’s even newer. I don’t even like old cars.
I mean they don’t even interest me. I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for
God’s sake.
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ (1951) ch. 17
I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all...I mean if
they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and
catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye.