Religious, Biblical, & Human Dignity References
Quotations from To Kill a Mockingbird
Directions: After reading each quotation listed, find the page number, identify the
speaker, give the context of the quote, and give insight into the meaning.
 What influence does the quotation have on Scout?
 How does the quote exhibit the culture of small town, Maycomb and the 1930s?
 What is the quote saying about the characters in the novel?
1. (Chapter 3) “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his
point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
2. (Chapter 5) “Foot washers believe anyting that’s pleasure is a sin…told me me and
my flowers were going to hell?” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
3. (Chapter 5) “Thing is, foot-washers think women are a sin by definition. They take the
Bible literally, you know…sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a
whiskey bottle in the hand of –oh, of your father” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
4. (Chapter 5) “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
5. (Chapter 10) “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” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
6. (Chapter 10) “If your father’s anything, he’s civilized in his heart…Marksmanship’s a
gift of God…People in their right minds never take pride in their talents” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
7. (Chapter 11) “…all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you’ll look back
on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn’t let you down. This case,
Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience—
Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
8. (Chapter 12) “Lula stopped, but she said, ‘You ain’t got no business bringin’ white
chillun here—they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it , Miss Cal?’
Calpurnia said, ‘It’s the same God, ain’t it?’” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
9. (Chapter 16) “Anything fit to say at the table’s fit to say in front of Calpurnia. She
knows what she means to this family” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
10. (Chapter 16) “He that comethin in vanity departeth in darkness!” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
11. (Chapter 16) “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance!” (
).
Speaker & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation:
12. (Chapter 16) “’Well how do you know we ain’t Negroes?’
‘Uncle Jack Finch says we really don’t know. He says as far as he can trace back the
Finces we ain’t but for all he knows we might come straight out of Ethiopia during the
Old Testament.’
‘Well if we came out durin’ the Old Testament it’s too long ago to matter.’
‘Thant’s what I thought,’ said Jem, ‘but around here once you have a drop of Negro
blood, that makes you all black’” (
).
Speakers & Context:
Meaning:
Insight & explanation: