Important Quotes in

The Outsiders
1. (pg 1): When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the
movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.
2. (pg 2): Greasers cant walk alone too much or theyll get jumped, or someone
will come by and scream Grease! at them, which doesnt make you feel too
hot. and We get jumped by the Socs . . . its the abbreviation for the Socials, the
jet set, the West-side rich kids. Its like the term greaser, which is used to class
all us boys on the East-side.
3. (pg 3): Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for
kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an
asst to society the next. and Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and
drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a
while. Im not saying that either Socs or greasers are better; thats just the way
things are.
4. (pg 4): sometimes I just dont use my head. It drives my brother Darry nuts when
I do stuff like that, cause Im supposed to be smart; I make good grades and have
a high IQ, but I dont use my head. and Johnny had it awful rough at homeit
took a lot to make him cry.
5. (pg 8): Soda never touches a drophe doesnt have to. He gets drunk on just
plain living. And he understands everybody.
6. (pg 11): Only Socs. And you cant win against them no matter how hard you try,
because theyve go all the breaks and even whipping them isnt going to change
that fact. Maybe that was why Dalls was so bitter. and If you can picture a little
dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of
strangers, youll have Johnny.
7. (pg 12): He was the gangs pet, everyones kid brother. His father was always
beating him up, and his mother ignored him. . . . he would have run away a
million times if we hadnt been there. If it hadnt been for the gang, Johnny would
never have known what love and affection are.
8. (pg 15): lots of times I wondered what other girls were like. The girls who were
bright-eyed and had their dresses a decent length and acted as if theyd like to spit
on us if given a chance. Some were afraid of us, . . . but most looked at us like we
were dirt.
9. (pg 16): Darry didnt deserve to work like an old man when he was only twenty.
He had been a real popular guy in school; he was captain of the football team and
he had been voted Boy of the Year. But we just didnt have the money for him to
go to college, even with the athletic scholarship he won. And now he didnt have
time between jobs to even think about college. So he never went anywhere and
never did anything anymore.
10. (pg 17): Why did the Socs hate us so much? We left them alone. and Listen,
kiddo, when Darry hollers at you . . . he dont mean nothin. Hes just got more
worries than somebody his age ought to. Dont take him serious . . . you dig,
Pony? Dont let him bug you. Hes really proud of you cause youre so brainy.
Its jus because youre the babyI mean, he loves you a lot.
11. (pg 18): I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.
12. (pg 19): Dally was waiting for Johnny and me under the street light at the corner
of Picket and Sutton.
13. (pg 20): Dally hated to do things the legal way. He liked to show that he didnt
care whether there was a law or not. He went around trying to break laws.
14. (pg 22): I hate to tell people my name for the first time. Ponyboy Curtis.
15. (pg 23): Dropout made me think of some poor dumb-looking hoodlum
wandering the streets breaking out street lightsit didnt fit my happy-go-lucky
brother at all. It fitted Dally perfectly, but you could hardly say that about Soda.
16. (pg 24): Dally was taken off guard. He stared at Johnny in disbelief. Johnny
couldnt say Boo to a goose. Johnny gulped and got a little pale, but he said,
You heard me. Leave her alone.
17. (pg 25): Johnny worshiped the ground Dallas walked on, and I had never heard
Johnny talk back to anyone, much less his hero.
18. (pg 26): You take up for you buddies, no matter what they do. When youre a
gang, you stick up for the members. If you dont stick up for them, stick together,
make like brothers, it isnt a gang any more. Its a pack. A snarling, distrustful,
bickering pack like the Socs.
19. (pg 29): Our one rule, besides Stick together, is Dont get caught.
20. (pg 31): Johnny . . . hes been hurt bad sometime hasnt he? Hurt and scared.
21. (pg 32): We were used to seeing Johnny banged uphis father clobbered him
around a lot. . . . But those beatings had been nothing like this. Johnnys face was
cut up and bruised and swollen, and there was a gash from his temple to his
cheekbone. He would carry that scar all his life. . . . I though he might be dead;
surely nobody could be beaten like that and live.
22. (pg 33): A blue mustang full . . . I got so scared. and I had seen Johnny take a
whipping with a two-by-four from his old man and never let out a whimper. That
made it hard to see him break now. and He had been hunting our football to
practice a few kicks when a blue mustang had pulled up beside the lot. There were
four Socs in it. They had caught him and one of them had a lot of rings on his
handthats what had cut Johnny up so badly. It wasnt that they had beaten him
half to deathhe could take that. They had scared him.
23. (pg 34): Johnny never walked by himself after that . . . [and] now carried in his
back pocket a six-inch switchblade. Hed use it, too, if he ever got jumped again. .
. . He would kill the next person jumped him.
24. (pg 34): Ill bet you think the Socs have it made. The rich kids, the West-side
Socs. Ill tell you something, Ponyboy, and it may come as a surprise. WE have
troubles youve never even heard of. You want to know something? . . . Things
are rough all over.
25. (pg 36): Man, I though, if I had worries like that Id consider myself lucky. I
know better now.
26. (pg 37): It seemed funny to me that Socsif these girls were any example
were just like us. . . . There was a basic sameness. I thought maybe it was money
that separated us.
27. (pg 38): You greasers have a different set of values. Youre more emotional.
Were sophisticatedcool to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real to
 us. and Its not money, its feelingyou dont feel anything and we feel too
violently.
28. (pg 40): It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the
one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds
we lived in werent so different. We saw the same sunset.
29. (pg 42): An you can shut your trap, Johnny Cade, cause we all know you aint
wanted at home, either. And you cant blame them.
30. (pg 43): It aint fair! . . . It aint fair that we have all the rough breaks! . . .
Things were rough all over, all right. All over the East Side. It just didnt seem
right to me.
31. (pg 44): The mustang came to a halt beside us . . . Johnny was breathing heavily
and I noticed he was staring at the Socs hand. He was wearing three heavy
rings.
32. (pg 45): Ponyboy . . . I mean . . . if I see you in the hall at school or someplace
and dont say hi, well, its not personal or anything, but . . . We couldnt let our
parents see us with you all. Youre a nic boy and everything. . . We arent in the
same class. Just dont forget that some of us watch the sunset too. and I could
fall in love with Dallas Winston. I hope I never see him again, or I will.
33. (pg 47): I saw Johnnys cigarette glowing in the dark and wondered vaguely
what it was like inside a burning ember.
34. (pg 50): Nobody in my family had ever hit me. Nobody.
35. (pg 51): I think I like it better when the old mans hittn me. . . . At least then I
know he knows who I am. I walk in that house, and nobody says anything. I walk
out and nobody says anything. I stay away all night, and nobody notices. At least
you got Soda. I aint got nobody.
36. (pg 53): The park was about two blocks square, with a fountain in the middle and
a small swimming pool for the little kids. The pool was empty now in the fall, . . .
[and] nobody was around at two-thirty in the morning.
37. (pg 54): Five Socs were coming straight at us, and from the way they were
staggering I figured they were reeling pickled. That scared me. . . . Johnnys hand
went to his back pocket and I remembered his switchblade.
38. (pg 55): It was Randy and Bob and three other Socs, and they recognized us. I
knew Johnny recognized them; he was watching the moonlight glint off Bobs
rings with huge eyes. and You could use a bath, greaser. And a good working
over. And weve got all night to do it.
39. (pg 56): [he] shoved my face into the fountain. I fought, but the hand at the back
of my neck was strong and I had to hold my breath. Im dying, I thought, and
wondered what was happening to Johnny. I couldnt hold my breath any longer. I
fought again desperately but only sucked in water. Im drowning, I thought,
theyve gone too far . . . A red haze filled my mind and I slowly relaxed.
40. (pg 57): You really killed him, huh, Johnny? I had to. They were drowning
you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade . . . they were gonna
beat me up.
41. (pg 59): I studied Dally, trying to figure out what there was about his tough-
looking hood that a girl like Cherry Valance could love. Towheaded and shifty-
eyed, Dally was anything but handsome. Yet in his hard face there was character,
 pride, and a savage defiance of the world. He could never love Cherry Valance
back. It would be a miracle if Dally loved anything. The fight for self-
preservation had hardened him beyond caring.
42. (pg 60): You might have thought it was Dally who fixed those races for Buck,
being a jockey and all, but it wasnt. . . . It was the only thing Dally did honestly.
43. (pg 61): Theres an old abandoned church on top of Jay Mountain. Theres a
pump in back so dont worry about water. Buy a weeks supply of food as soon as
you get there. . . then dont so much as stick your noses out the door.
44. (pg 62): Then for the first time, really, I realized what we were in for. Johnny
had killed someone. Quiet, soft-spoken little Johnny, who would hurt a living
thing on purpose, had taken a human life. We were really running away, with the
police after us for murder and a loaded gun by our side.
45. (pg 64): I wish I was home, I thought absently, I wish I was home and still in
bed. Maybe I am Maybe Im just dreaming.
46. (pg 65): There are things worse than being a greaser. and I can lie so easily
that it spooks me sometimes.
47. (pg 66): It was a small church, real old and spooky and spiderwebby. It gave me
the creeps.
48. (pg 68): I half convinced myself that I had dreamed everything that had
happened the night before.
49. (pg 69): [I] caught sight of some crooked lettering written in the dust of the floor.
Went to get supplies. Be back soon. J.C. and I could remember every detail of
the whole night, but it had the unreal quality of a dream.
50. (pg 70): My over-active imagination was running away with me again.
51. (pg 71): No, Johnny, not my hair! It was my pride. . . . Our hair was tough. . . .
Our hair labled us greasers, tooit was our trademark. The one thing we were
proud of.
52. (pg 73): Its like being in a Halloween costume we cant get out of.
53. (pg 74): Shut up about last night! I killed a kid last night. He couldnt of been
over seventeen or eighteen, and I killed him. Howd you like to live with that?
54. (pg 75): It amazed me how Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the
stuff in there than I couldI was supposed to be the deep one. . . . He was just a
little slow to get things, and he liked to explore things once he did get them. He
was especially stuck on the Southern gentlemenimpressed with their manners
and charm.
55. (pg 76): one night I was Dally gettin picked up by the fuzz, and he kept real
cool and calm the whole time. They was gettin him for breakin out the windows
in the school building, and it was Tw0-Bit who did that. And Dally knew it. But
he just took the sentence without battin an eye or even denyin it. Thats
gallant.
56. (pg 77): The sky was lighter in the east, and the horizon was a thin golden line.
The clouds changed from gray to pink, and the mist was touched with gold. There
was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the sun rose. It was
beautiful. and Nothing gold can stay. see the whole poem on this page!
57. (pg 78): I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until you kept reminding me
about them. It seems like they were never there before. and Soda kinda looks
 like you mother did, but he acts just exactly like your father. And Darry is the
spittin image of your father, but he aint wild and laughing all the time like he
was. He acts like you mother. And you dont act like either one.
58. (pg 79): We were careful with our cigarettesif that old church ever caught on
fire thered be no stopping it. and I had almost decided that I had dreamed the
outside would and there was nothing real but baloney sandwiches and the Civil
War and the old church and the mist in the valley. . . . That shows you what a wild
imagination I have.
59. (pg 80): I never thought Id live to see the day when I would be so glad to see
Dally Winston, but right then he meant one thing: contact with the outside world.
And it suddenly became real and vital.
60. (pg 81): Kid, you ought to see Darry. Hes takin this mighty hard.
61. (pg 83): The Socs and us are having all-out warfare all over the city. That kid
you killed had plenty of friends and all over town its Soc against grease. We
cant walk alone at all. I stared carryin a heater. . . . dont worry, it aint loaded. .
. . But is sure does help a bluff.
62. (pg 84): Hey, I didnt tell you we got us a spy. . . . The redhead, Cherry whats-
her-name.
63. (pg 86): She said she felt that the whole mess was her fault, which it is, and that
shed keep up with what was comin off with the Socs in the rumble and would
testify that the Socs were drunk and looking for a fight and that you fought back
in self-defense. and So, Cherry Valance, the cheerleader, Bobs girl, the Soc,
was trying to help us. No, it wasnt Cherry the Soc who was helping us, it was
Cherry the dreamer who watched sunsets and couldnt stand fights. I was hard to
believe a Soc would help us, even a Soc that dug sunsets. and Ponyboy, I heard
you was the best shot in the family. . . . I couldnt tell Dally that I hated to shoot
things. Hed think I was soft.
64. (pg 87): Were goin back and turn ourselves in. . . . I got a good chance of
bein let off easy. and I dont guess my parents are worried about me or
anything?
65. (pg 88): No, snapped Dally, they didnt. Blast it Johnny, what do they matter?
Shoot, my old man dont give a hang whether Im in jail or dead in a car wreck or
drunk in the gutter. That dont bother me none.
66. (pg 89): Johnny, I aint mad at you. I just dont want you to get hurt. You dont
know what a few months in jail can do to you. Oh, blast it, Johnny . . . you get
hardened in jail. I dont want that to happen to you. Like it happened to me.
67. (pg 92): I should be scared, I thought with an odd detached feeling, but Im not.
The cinders and embers began falling on us, stinging and smarting like ants.
Suddenly, in the red glow and the haze, I remembered wondering what it was like
in a burning ember, and I thought: Now I know, its a red hell. Why arent I
scared? and Johnny wasnt behaving at all like his old self. He looked over his
shoulder and saw that the door was blocked by flames, then pushed open the
window and tossed out the nearest kid. I caught one quick look at his face; it was
red-marked from falling embers and sweat-streaked, but he grinned at me. He
wasnt scared either. That was the only time I can think of when I was him
 without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes. He looked like he was having
the time of his life.
68. (pg 95): I swear, you three are the bravest kids Ive seen in a long time. . . . Mrs.
OBriant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you just
professional heroes or something?
69. (pg 98): Suddenly I realized, horrified, that Darry was crying. He didnt make a
sound, but tears were running down his cheeks. I hadnt seen him cry in years, not
even when Mom and Dad had been killed. and In that second what Soda and
Dally and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me came through. Darry did care about
me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying
too hard to make something of me. and That was his silent fear thenof losing
another person he loved.
70. (pg 99): I had taken the long way around, but I was finally home. To stay.
71. (pg 102): He was in critical condition. His back had been broken when that piece
of timber fell on him. He was in severe shock and suffering from third-degree
burns. . . . Even if he lived hed be crippled for the rest of his life.
72. (pg 103): Im dreaming, I thought in panic, Im dreaming. Ill wake up at home
or in the church and everythingll be like it used to be. But I didnt believe myself.
Even if Johnny did live hed be crippled and never play football or help us out in
a rumble again. Hed have to stay in that house he hated, where he wasnt wanted,
and things could never be like they used to be.
73. (pg 107): the headline: JUVENILE DELINQUENS TURN HEROS. and
Yall were heroes from the beginning. You just didnt turn all of a sudden.
74. (pg 108): But they were charging Johnny with manslaughter. Then I discovered
that I was supposed to appear at juvenile court for running away, and Johnny was
too, if he recovered. and Then it said we shouldnt be separated after we had
worked so hard to stay together. . . . [and] that they were thinking about putting
me and Soda in a boys home or something.
75. (pg 109): Darry has never really gotten over not going to college.
76. (pg 110): I had one of those dreams last night. The one I cant even
remember. and I had a nightmare the night of Mom and Dads funeral. . . . it
happened often enough for Darry to take me to a doctor. The doctor said I had too
much imagination.
77. (pg 111): She went to live with her grandmother in Florida. . . . does he have to
draw you a picture? It was either that or get married, and her parents almost hit
the roof at the idea of her marryin a sixteen-year-old-kid.
78. (pg 114): the Socs who had jumped Johnny and me at the park hopped out of the
mustang. I recognized Randy Adderson, Marcias boyfriend, and the tall guy that
had almost drowned me. I hated them. It was their fault Bob was dead; their fault
Johnny was dying; their fault Soda and I might get put in a boys home.
79. (pg 115): Greaser didnt have anything to do with it. My buddy over there
wouldnt have done it. Maybe you would have done the same thing, maybe a
friend of yours wouldnt have. Its the individual.
80. (pg 116): Hes dead. . . they gave into him all the time. He kept trying to make
someone say No and they never did. They never did. That was what he wanted.
For somebody to tell him No. To have somebody lay down the law, set the
 limits, give him something solid to stand on. Thats what we all want, really.
and I dont know why Im telling you this. I couldnt tell anyone else. My
friendstheyd think I was off my rocker or turning soft. Maybe I am. I just
know that Im sick of this whole mess.
81. (pg 117): You cant win, even if you whip us. Youll still be where you were
beforeat the bottom. And well still be the luck ones with all the breaks. So it
doesnt do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesnt prove a thing. Well
forget it if you win, or if you dont. Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will
still be Socs.
82. (pg 118): He aint a Soc . . . , he just a guy. He just wanted to talk. . . . Socs
were just guys after all. Things were rough all over, but it was better that way.
That way you could tell the other guy was human too.
83. (pg 119): Let them go in. . . . Hes been asking for them. It cant hurt now.
84. (pg 120): Did you know you got your name in the paper for being a hero?
85. (pg 121): We couldnt get along without him. We needed Johnny as much as he
needed the gang. And for the same reason.
86. (pg 121): You want to know something, Ponyboy? Im scared stiff. I used to
talk about killing myself. . . . I dont want to die now. It aint long enough.
Sixteen years aint long enough. I wouldnt mind it so much if there wasnt so
much stuff I aint done yet and so many things I aint seen. Its not fair. Tou know
what? That time we were in Windrixville was the only time Ive been away from
our neighborhood.
87. (pg 122): Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong
things, not the things you want to learn. Sixteen years on the streets and you see a
lot. But all the wrong sights, not the sights you want to see.
88. (pg 122): I said I dont want to see her. . . . Shes probably come to tell me
about all the trouble Im causing her and about how glad her and the old manll be
when Im dead. Well, tell her to leave me alone. For once . . .
89. (pg 123): Two-Bits eyes got narrow and I was afraid he was going to start
something. . . . No wonder he hates your guts, Two-Bit snapped.
90. (pg 124): Id never liked Dally- but then, for the first time, I felt like he was my
buddy. And all because he was glad he hadnt killed me.
91. (pg 125): We gotta win that fight tonight, Dally said. . . . We gotta get even
with the Socs. For Johnny.
92. (pg 126): You know the only thing that keeps Darry from bein a Soc is us.
93. (pg127): Tonight- I dont like it one bit. . . . I mean, I got an awful feeling
somethings gonna happen.
94. (pg 128): He could be sweet sometimes, and friendly. But when he got drunk . .
. it was that part of him that beat up Johnny. I knew it was Bob when you told me
the story. He was so proud of his rings.
95. (pg 129): I cant go see Johnny. I know Im too young to be in love and all that,
but Bob was something special. He wasnt just any boy. He had something that
made people follow him, something that marked him different, maybe a little
better, than the crowd. Do you know what I mean?
96. (pg 132): What kind of world is it where all I have to be proud of is a reputation
for being a hood, and greasy hair? I dont want to be a hood, but even if I dont
 steal things and mug people and get boozed up, Im marked lousy. Why should I
be proud of it? Why should I even pretend to be proud of it?
97. (pg 137): I shook my head. Id hate to see the day when I had to get my nerve
from a can.
98. (pg 137): Soda fought for fun, Steve for hatred, Darry for pride, and Two-Bit for
conformity. . . . I thought . . . There isnt any real good reason for fighting except
for self-defense.
99. (pg 138): That was the difference between his gang and ours- they had a leader
and were organized; we were just buddies who stuck together- each man was his
own leader.
100. (pg 141): Who was going to start it? Darry solved the problem. He stepped
forward under the circle of light made by the street lamp. . . . Then Darry said, Ill
take on anyone.
101. (pg 143): They moved in a circle under the light, counterclockwise, eyeing each
other, sizing each other up, maybe remembering old faults and wondering if the were
still there. . . . I was reminded of Jack Londons books- you know, where the wolf
pack waits in silence for one of two memories to go down in a fight. . . . Still Darry
and the Soc walked slowly in a circle. Even I could feel their hatred.
102. (pg 145): Come on! He half dragged me down the street. Were goin to see
Johnny.
103. (pg 147): I was crazy, you know that, kid? Crazy for wantin Johnny to stay
outa trouble, for not wantin him to get hard. If hed been like me hed never have
been in this mess. If hed got smart like me hed never have run into that church.
Thats what you get for helpin people. Editorials in the paper and a lot of trouble. . . .
Youd better wise up, Pony . . . you get tough like me and you dont get hurt. You
look out for yourself and nothin can touch you . . .
104. (pg 148): It was awful quiet. It was scary quiet. I looked at Johnny. He was
very still, and for a moment I thought in agony: Hes dead already. Were too late.
105. (pg 148): Johnnys eyes glowed. Dally was proud of him. That was all Johnny
had ever wanted. Ponyboy. . . . Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold . . . The pillow
seemed to sink a little, and Johnny died.
106. (pg 149): Dally swallowed and reached over to push Johnnys hair back. Never
could keep that hair back . . . thats what you get for tryin to help people, you little
punk, thats what you get . . .
107. (pg 150): He isnt dead, I said to myself. He isnt dead. And this time my
dreaming worked. I convinced myself that he wasnt dead.
108. (pg 152): Dallas is gone, I said. He ran out like the devil was after hm. Hes
gonna blow up. He couldnt take it. How can I take it? I wondered. Dally is tougher
than I am. Why can I take it when Dally cant? And then I knew. Johnny was the only
thing that Dally loved. And now Johnny was gone.
109. (pg 154): Dally raised the gun, and I thought: You blasted fool. They dont
know youre only bluffing. And even as the policemens guns spit fire into the night I
knew that was what Dally wanted. He was jerked half around by the impact of the
bullets, then slowly crumpled with a look of grim triumph on his face. He was dead
before he hit the ground. But I knew that was what he wanted, even as the lot echoed
with the cracks of shots, even as I begged silently Please, not him not him and
Johnny both I knew he would be dead, because Dally Winston wanted to be dead
and he always got what he wanted.
110. (pg 154): Dally didnt die a hero. He died violent and young and desperate, just
like we all knew hed die someday.
111. (pg 154): Nothing we can do not for Dally or Johnny or Tim Shepard or any
of us
112. (pg 157): Darry, do you think theyll split us up? Put me in a home or
something?
113. (pg 162): Id rather have anybodys hate than their pity.
114. (pg 163): It was a funny thing it bugged me about my friends seeing our
house. But I couldnt have cared less about what Randy thought.
115. (pg 164): I had it. I had the knife. I killed Bob. I killed him. I had a
switchblade and I was scared they were going to beat me up. Johnny is not Dead.
Johnny is not dead.
116. (pg 166): Maybe you can be a little neater, huh, little buddy? Hed never
called me that before. Soda was the only one he ever called little buddy.
117. (pg 168): I wish I could say that everything went back to normal, but it didnt.
Especially me. I started running into things, like the door, and kept tripping over the
coffee table and losing things. I always have been kind of absent-minded, but man,
then, I was lucky if I got home from school with the right notebook and with both
shoes on.
118. (pg 169): It bothered my English teacher, the way I was goofing up, I mean.
Hes a real good guy, who makes us think, and you can tell hes interested in you as a
person, too. One day he told me to stay in after the rest of the class left.
119. (pg 170): The first week of school after the hearing had been awful. People I
knew wouldnt talk to me, and people I didnt know would come right up and ask
about the whole mess. Sometimes even teachers. And my history teacher she acted
as if she was scared of me, even though Id never caused any trouble in her class.
120. (pg 170): Whats the theme supposed to be on?
Anything you think is important enough to write about. And it isnt a reference
theme; I want your own ideas and your own experiences.
121. (pg 170): I wasnt scared. It was the oddest feeling in the world. I didnt feel
anything scared, mad, or anything. Just zero.
122. (pg 171): Ponyboy, listen, dont get tough. Youre not like the rest of us and
dont try to be
123. (pg 171): I knew as well as he did that if you got tough you didnt get hurt. Get
smart and nothing can touch you
124. (pg 173): I knew as well as he did that if you got tough you didnt get hurt.
Get smart and nothing can touch you
125. (pg 173): Youre not going to drop out. Listen. With your brains and grade you
could get a scholarship, and we could put you through college. But schoolworks not
the point. Youre living in a vacuum, Pony, and youre going to have to cut it out.
Johnny and Dallas were our buddies, too, but you dont just stop living because you
lose someone. I thought you knew that by now. You dont quit! And anytime you
dont like the way Im running things you can get out.
126. (pg 174): When Sandy went to Florida . . . it wasnt Soda, Ponyboy. He told
me he loved her, but I guess she didnt love him like he thought she did, because it
wasnt him. He wanted to marry her anyway, but he just left.
127. (pg 176): Were all we got left. We ought to be able to stick together against
everything. If we dont have each other, we dont have anything. If you dont have
anything, you end up like Dallas . . . and I dont mean dead, either. I mean like he was
before. And thats worse than dead. Please- he wiped his eyes on his arm- dont
fight anymore.
128. (pg 177): Finally I picked up Gone with the Wind and looked at it for a long
time. I knew Johnny was dead. I had known it all the time, even while I was sick and
pretending he wasnt. it was Johnny, not me, who had killed Bob- I knew that too. I
had just thought that maybe if I played like Johnny wasnt dead it wouldnt hurt so
much.
129. (pg 178): A guy thatll really listen to you, listen and care about what youre
saying, is something rare.
130. (pg 178): Its worth it. Its worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more
than mine, they have more to live for. Tell Dally its worth it.
131. (pg 178): I want you to tell Dally to look at one. I dont think hes ever really
seen a sunset. And dont be so bugged over being a greaser. You still have a lot of
time to make yourself be what you want. Theres still lots of good in the world. Tell
Dally. I dont think he knows. Your buddy, Johnny.
132. (pg 179): Tell Dally. It was too late to tell Dally. Would he have listened?
Suddenly it wasnt only a personal thing to me. I could picture hundreds and
hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who
jumped at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and
looked at stars and ached for something better. I could see boys going down under
street lights because they were mean and tough and hated the world, and it was too
late to tell them that there was still good in it, and they wouldnt believe you if you
did. It was too vast a problem to be just a personal thing. There should be some help,
someone should tell them before it was too late. Someone should tell their side of the
story, and maybe people would understand then and wouldnt be so quick to judge a
boy by the amount of hair oil he wore. It was important to me. I picked up the phone
book and called my English teacher.
133. (pg 180): One week had taken all three of them. And I decided I could tell
people, beginning with my English teacher.
134. (pg 180): When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the
movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home . . .