Chapters 14-15 of The Catcher And The Rye (Quotes)

'Better is one's own duty imperfectly carried out than

following perfectly the law of another.

Better is death in the fulfillment of one's own law,

for to follow another's law is perilous.'

-The Bhagavad-Gita

 To me this quote can relate to Holden Caulfield a lot. I say this because, to me this quote is talking about how it is better to go your own way instead of going someone else's way. Meaning, that a person has to be original, they can't just copy everyone around them, they have to be an individual, which is what Holden is all about. He hates it when people just go with everyone else and the aren't being themselves, they are just being phoney. It brings him to the point where he gets sick and wants to through up. Secretly, I believe this is Holden Caulfield's motto, because this is exactly what he always says just in different words. 

 

 "It is the quality of ones convictions that determines success, 

not the number of followers."

  -R.J LUPEN 

 

This quote, to me, also shows Holden Caulfield. This quote is saying the choices you make in life makes you who you are, and it doesn't matter how many agree with you or how many people don't agree with you, as long as you are successful in your own eyes. Don't try to be "cool" just so you can have friends, be yourself and as long as you are happy, then it doesn't matter what other people think. I think that Holden is like this in some ways. 

"He was a very nice kid, and I liked him, but I could never see eye to eye with him on a lot of stuff in the Bible, especially the Disciples. He kept telling me if I didn't like the Disciples, then I didn't like Jesus and all. He said that because Jesus picked the Disciples, you were suppose to like them. I said I knew He picked them, but that He picked them at random. I said he didn't have time to go around analyzing everybody. I said I wasn't blaming Jesus or anything. It wasn't His fault that He didn't have any time."

In this quote from the book, it show Holden arguing with a guy about religion and the Disciples. During this conversation he isn't worried about what the other guy is going to think of him. The guy said that he didn't like Jesus and Holden just corrected him and said his opinion about the Disciples and how Jesus didn't have time to hold interviews with everybody. Holden doesn't really care about what other people think about him, and I think that fits my quote.