Quotes from The Outsiders

“I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“They grew up on the outside of society. They weren't looking for a fight. They were looking to belong.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“You get tough like me and you don't get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin' can touch you...”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn. Sixteen years on the streets and you see a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the things you want to see.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“Can you see the sunset real good on the West side? You can see it on the East side too.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“It's okay. We aren't in the same class. Just don't forget that some of us watch the sunset too.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you're gold when you're a kid, like green. When you're a kid everything's new, dawn. It's just when you get used to everything that it's day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That's gold. Keep that way, it's a good way to be.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“Get smart and nothing can touch you.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“I am a greaser. I am a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city. I beat up people. I rob gas stations. I am a menace to society. Man do I have fun!”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“Dally was so real he scared me.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guy was human too.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he'd die someday.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“Ponyboy, listen, don't get tough. You're not like the rest of us and don't try to be..."
What was the matter with Two-Bit? I knew as well as he did that if you got tough you didn't get hurt. Get smart and nothing can touch you...
"What in the world are you doing?" Two-Bit's voice broke into my thoughts.
I looked up at him. "Picking up the glass."
He stared at me for a second, then grinned. "You little sonofagun," he said in a relieved voice. I didn't know what he was talking about, so I just went on picking up the glass from the bottle end and put it in a trash can. I didn't want anyone to get a flat tire.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“Asleep, he looked a lot younger than going-on-seventeen, but I had noticed that Johnny looked younger when he was asleep too, so I figured everyone did. Maybe people are younger when they are asleep.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“There isn't any real good reason for fighting except self-defense.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“Johnny almost grinned as he nodded. "Tuff enough," he managed, and by the way his eyes were glowing, I figured Southern gentlemen had nothing on Johnny Cade.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“...I knew he would be dead, because Dally Winston wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you're a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don't stick up for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn't a gang anymore. It's a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering park like the Socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the timber.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“why do you like fights Darry~Ponyboy
He just likes to show off his muscles~Sodapop”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“That's why people don't ever think to blame the Socs and are always ready to jump on us. We look hoody and they look decent. It could be just the other way around - half of the hoods I know are pretty decent guys underneath all that grease, and from what I've heard, a lot of Socs are just cold-blooded mean - but people usually go by looks.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“You know a guy a longtime, and I mean really know him, you don't get used to the idea that he's dead just overnight.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“the person in this picture is really me.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“They shouldn't hate each other . . . I don't hate the Socs any more . . . they shouldn't hate . . .”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

“I liked my books and clouds and sunsets.”
― S.E. Hinton, quote from The Outsiders

About the author

Popular quotes

“You've seed how things goes in the world o' men. You've knowed men to be low-down and mean. You've seed ol' Death at his tricks...Ever' man wants life to be a fine thing, and a easy. 'Tis fine, boy, powerful fine, but 'tain't easy. Life knocks a man down and he gits up and it knocks him down agin. I've been uneasy all my life...I've wanted life to be easy for you. Easier'n 'twas for me. A man's heart aches, seein' his young uns face the world. Knowin' they got to get their guts tore out, the way his was tore. I wanted to spare you, long as I could. I wanted you to frolic with your yearlin'. I knowed the lonesomeness he eased for you. But ever' man's lonesome. What's he to do then? What's he to do when he gits knocked down? Why, take it for his share and go on.

—Penny Baxter”
― Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, quote from The Yearling

“She informed me, matter-of-factly, that she was old enough to know the difference between intriguing and fucked up. "You should go for younger women," she advised me. "They can't always tell.”
― Tana French, quote from In the Woods

“His ministrations were tender, his eyes hooded as he seemed to withhold certain emotions from her. She allowed him his secrets, and took what he gave with a greed that shocked her with its intensity. But he never had to know. He never had to glimpse how deeply she felt for him, or discover the secret she had always suspected and finally admitted to herself.

She loved him.

Completely. Every part of him, good and bad, her friend and lover and partner and rival. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, giving him everything, even though she knew he didn’t want her. She crammed the knowledge to a secret place in- side. Then realized she’d take whatever he gave, even though it would never be enough.”
― Jennifer Probst, quote from The Marriage Bargain

“Fear can't hurt you. When it washes over you, give it no power. it's a snake with no venom.”
― Maureen Johnson, quote from The Name of the Star

“Soon a messenger brought back the will, together with two photostats of the document.”
― quote from The Secret of the Old Clock

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.