Harper Lee Quotes: 11 Inspirational Sayings To Remember 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' Author

Harper Lee, author of the beloved novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," has reportedly died at the age of 89 in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. Lee won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961 for "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Lee was born April 28, 1926, and went on to live a quiet and private life in Monroeville. "To Kill a Mockingbird," which addresses racism and doing the right thing, has remained an influential book, and Lee was a revered literary figured. Listed below are 11 quotes attributed to Lee — either spoken or written — to honor the author, collected from Brainy Quote, Good Reads and Paste Magazine.

1. "Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."

2. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

3. "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

4. "The book to read is not the one which thinks for you but the one which makes you think."

5. "People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for."

6. "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks."

7. "Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs... they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird."

8. "I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird'... I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement."

9. "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

10. "The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that."

11. "Before I can live with other folks, I've got to live with myself."