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J. D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye, died on Tuesday at 91 years old.  He was famous, in the first half of his life, for his writing.  He was famous, in the second half of his life, for not wanting to be famous.  His stories about teenage angst and rebellion were required reading across American high schools, where so many students shuddered at the thought of ever becoming phonies in adulthood themselves.

There are a great many beautiful and detailed obituaries about Salinger, but I think The Onion catches the tone of his writing and his life perfectly.  Salinger will be missed, but Holden will live on.

Here are some selected quotes from Salinger.  His characters swear a lot, so this is a self-selective list.  What are your favorites?  Feel free to share!:

“Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”

“It’s funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they’ll do practically anything you want them to.”

“I’m sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.”

“Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behaviour. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them—if you want to. Just as some day, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.”

“All morons hate it when you call them a moron.”