Harper Lee

"She was. She had her own view of things, a lot different from mine, maybe... son, I told you that if you hadn't lost your head I'd have made you go read to her. I wanted you to see something about her--- I wanted you to see what REAL courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and anybody. She was the bravest person I ever knew."
---Atticus Finch.

"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it."Your father’s right," she said. "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