Ever felt like an outsider? Like you don’t belong? When it comes to teenagers, this feeling can be quite intense especially since they’re already dealing with issues like peer pressure. The classic novel The Outsiders throws light on the challenges faced by youth belonging to the lower economic strata. Though it was written in 1967, quotes from The Outsiders are relevant even in this day and age.
Top 25 Quotes from The Outsiders That Teach You about Life as an Outsider
Quotes from The Outsiders on the Truth of Life
#1. “I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#2. “I am a greaser. I am a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city. I beat up people. I rob gas stations. I am a menace to society. Man do I have fun!” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#3. “There isn’t any real good reason for fighting except self-defense.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#4. “Nothing sparkly can stay.”― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
Quotes from The Outsiders That Serve as Lessons
#5. “You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There’s still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don’t think he knows.”― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#6. “Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#7. “You get tough like me and you don’t get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin’ can touch you.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#8. “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 things you want to see.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#9. “Get smart and nothing can touch you.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#10. “Things were rough all over, but it was better that way. That way you could tell the other guy was human too.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#11. “I’ve been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you’re a kid everything’s new, dawn. It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That’s gold. Keep that way, it’s a good way to be.” ― Susan E. Hinton, The Outsiders
Quotes from The Outsiders on Society and Belongingness
#12. “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 weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#13. “They grew up on the outside of society. They weren’t looking for a fight. They were looking to belong.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#14. “Can you see the sunset real good on the West side? You can see it on the East side too.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#15. “It’s okay. We aren’t in the same class. Just don’t forget that some of us watch the sunset too.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#16. “That’s why people don’t ever think to blame the Socs and are always ready to jump on us. We look hoody and they look decent. It could be just the other way around―half of the hoods I know are pretty decent guys underneath all that grease, and from what I’ve heard, a lot of Socs are just cold-blooded mean―but people usually go by looks.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
Quotes from The Outsiders on Death
#17. “He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he’d die someday.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#18. “You know a guy for a longtime, and I mean really know him, you don’t get used to the idea that he’s dead just overnight.” ― S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#19. “I knew he would be dead, because Dally Winston wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
Quotes from The Outsiders on Friendship and Loyalty
#20. “You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you’re a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don’t stick up for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn’t a gang anymore. It’s a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering park like the Socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the timber.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#21. “Our one rule besides Stick together is Don’t get caught.” —S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#22. “You’re a traitor to your own kind and not loyal to us.” —S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
Other Quotes from The Outsiders
#23. “Dally was so real he scared me.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#24. “I liked my books and clouds and sunsets.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
#25. “But then, Darry’s gone through a lot in his twenty years, grown up too fast.” ― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
Conclusion
It’s been over fifty years since the book was published, yet quotes from The Outsiders continue to be so relevant. The teenage character of Ponyboy fitting represents all other teenage kids who are labeled and considered outsiders just because of their social strata. It speaks about the class-divide that was very prevalent back in the day.
Image source: The Outsiders photo from pinterest.com
