To Kill a Mockingbird

by

Harper Lee

Scout and Jem’s father. Atticus is older than most fathers in Maycomb at almost 50 years old, and as a lawyer, Scout and Jem initially believe that Atticus doesn’t do anything of import. Atticus is kind, compassionate, and treats his children like adults to the furthest extent that he can—he asks for both sides of arguments, for instance, and takes their concerns seriously, no matter how odd they may seem. He also insists that it’s necessary to answer children’s questions truthfully, no matter how embarrassing or unsavory the subject. While at home, he spends most of his time reading newspapers, and through this, taught Scout to read at an early age. Atticus has a firm sense of morality and believes in the dignity of all people. He teaches his children to be compassionate and understanding of everyone, from mean old Mrs. Dubose to Calpurnia, the Finches’ black cook. All of this means that Atticus feels compelled to take on the case of Tom Robinson, a black man wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. Atticus knows that Robinson will be found guilty regardless, but believes that in order to look his children in the eye and in order to live with himself, he has to do his best to actually defend Robinson to the best of his abilities rather than allowing the trial to proceed unchecked in favor of the white Ewells. The months preceding the trial are trying for the entire Finch family, as Atticus is often harassed by locals for his role. In February, before the summer trial, Atticus reveals that he used to be the best shot in the county when he shoots a rabid dog, an experience that, in Scout’s mind, cements Atticus’s role as the person who does unsavory but necessary things for the community. He ultimately loses the trial, but believes that his closing arguments caused the jury to take a tiny step in the right direction by arguing about their decision for hours. He doesn’t take Mr. Ewell’s threats seriously in the months after, as he believes fully in the goodness and kindness of all people.

Atticus Finch Quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird

The To Kill a Mockingbird quotes below are all either spoken by Atticus Finch or refer to Atticus Finch. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Good, Evil, and Human Dignity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—“

“Sir?”

“—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Miss Caroline
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

“If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doin' it?”

“For a number of reasons,” said Atticus. “The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again.”

[…]

"Atticus, are we going to win it?"

“No, honey.”

“Then why—”

“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win,” Atticus said.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Tom Robinson
Page Number: 86-87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn't fight any more, her daddy wouldn't let her.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch, Cecil Jacobs
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:

“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.”

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Miss Maudie Atkinson (speaker)
Related Symbols: The Mockingbird
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch, Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
Page Number: 115-16
Explanation and Analysis:

“Atticus, you must be wrong…”

“How's that?”

“Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong…”

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Tom Robinson
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:

“The one that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

Related Characters: Atticus Finch (speaker), Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:

“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.”

Related Characters: Atticus Finch (speaker)
Page Number: 128
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

Dill's eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. “Atticus,” his voice was distant, “can you come here a minute, sir?”

Beneath its sweat-streaked dirt Dill's face went white. I felt sick.

[...]

Jem was standing in a corner of the room, looking like the traitor he was. “Dill, I had to tell him,” he said. “You can't run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin'.”

We left him without a word.

Related Characters: Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem) (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Atticus Finch, Charles Baker Harris (Dill)
Page Number: 159-60
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

“They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep.”

Related Characters: Atticus Finch (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Charles Baker Harris (Dill), Tom Robinson
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, Mr. Underwood
Related Symbols: The Mockingbird
Page Number: 275-76
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing-pole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention.

It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose's [...] Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day's woes and triumphs on their faces. They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.

Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog.

Summer, and he watched his children's heart break. Autumn again, and Boo's children needed him.

Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Atticus Finch, Charles Baker Harris (Dill), Arthur Radley (Boo), Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
Page Number: 320-21
Explanation and Analysis:

“When they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things…Atticus, he was real nice…” His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me. “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.” He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Arthur Radley (Boo)
Page Number: 322-23
Explanation and Analysis:
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To Kill a Mockingbird PDF

Atticus Finch Quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird

The To Kill a Mockingbird quotes below are all either spoken by Atticus Finch or refer to Atticus Finch. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Good, Evil, and Human Dignity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—“

“Sir?”

“—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Miss Caroline
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

“If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doin' it?”

“For a number of reasons,” said Atticus. “The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again.”

[…]

"Atticus, are we going to win it?"

“No, honey.”

“Then why—”

“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win,” Atticus said.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Tom Robinson
Page Number: 86-87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn't fight any more, her daddy wouldn't let her.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch, Cecil Jacobs
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:

“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.”

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Miss Maudie Atkinson (speaker)
Related Symbols: The Mockingbird
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch, Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
Page Number: 115-16
Explanation and Analysis:

“Atticus, you must be wrong…”

“How's that?”

“Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong…”

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Tom Robinson
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:

“The one that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

Related Characters: Atticus Finch (speaker), Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:

“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.”

Related Characters: Atticus Finch (speaker)
Page Number: 128
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

Dill's eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. “Atticus,” his voice was distant, “can you come here a minute, sir?”

Beneath its sweat-streaked dirt Dill's face went white. I felt sick.

[...]

Jem was standing in a corner of the room, looking like the traitor he was. “Dill, I had to tell him,” he said. “You can't run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin'.”

We left him without a word.

Related Characters: Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem) (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Atticus Finch, Charles Baker Harris (Dill)
Page Number: 159-60
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

“They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep.”

Related Characters: Atticus Finch (speaker), Jean Louise Finch (Scout), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Charles Baker Harris (Dill), Tom Robinson
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, Mr. Underwood
Related Symbols: The Mockingbird
Page Number: 275-76
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing-pole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention.

It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose's [...] Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day's woes and triumphs on their faces. They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.

Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog.

Summer, and he watched his children's heart break. Autumn again, and Boo's children needed him.

Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Atticus Finch, Charles Baker Harris (Dill), Arthur Radley (Boo), Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
Page Number: 320-21
Explanation and Analysis:

“When they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things…Atticus, he was real nice…” His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me. “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.” He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.

Related Characters: Jean Louise Finch (Scout) (speaker), Atticus Finch (speaker), Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), Arthur Radley (Boo)
Page Number: 322-23
Explanation and Analysis: