“They're not. That's partly what's so awful. I mean they're not real poets. They're just people that write poems that get published and anthologized all over the place but they're not poets.”

“They're just people that write poems that get published and anthologized all over the place but they're not poets.”

“Poets are always taking the weather so personally. They're always sticking their emotions in things that have no emotions.”

“I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all… I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - 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 do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye”

“Teddy looked at him directly for the first time.Are you a poet?' he asked.A poet?' Nicholson said. 'Lord, no. Alas, no. Why do you ask?'I don't know. Poets are always taking the weather so personally. They're always sticking their emotions in things that have no emotions.' "- Teddy and Nicholson in "Teddy" (Nine Stories)”

“They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all-I'm not saying that-but they're also touchy as hell.”

“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.”