I'm not saying that either Socs or greasers are better; that's just the way things are.
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!
A guy that'll really listen to you, listen and care about what you're saying, is something rare.
But I've never regretted it. You can't regret experience.
I knew he would be dead, because Dally Winston wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted.
Bewildering feeling of being rushed, things are happening too quick. Too fast. I figured I couldn’t get into any worse trouble than murder. Johnny and I would be hiding for the rest of our lives. Nobo...
You read a lot, don’t you, Ponyboy? Cherry asked. I was startled. Yeah. Why? She kind of shrugged. I could just tell. I’ll bet you watch sunsets, too. She was quiet for a minute after I nodded. I used...
You greasers have a different set of values. You're more emotional. We're sophisticated-cool to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real with us.
You get tough like me and you don't get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin' can touch you...
They used to be buddies, I thought, they used to be friends, and now they hate each other because one has to work for a living and the other comes from the West Side. They shouldn't hate each other...
Soda was glaring at him. Leave my kid brother alone, you hear? It ain’t his fault he likes to go to the movies, and it ain’t his fault the Socs like to jump us, and if he had been carrying a blade it...
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 sigh...
It was too late to tell Dally. Would he have listened? I doubted it. Suddenly it wasn't only a personal thing to me. I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities,...
I don't know why I go to school unless for kicks, oh well might as well do dissect a frog.
Get smart and nothing can touch you.
Don’t you know a rumble ain’t a rumble unless I’m in it?
Two-Bit was the only one wearing a jacket; he had a couple of cans of beer stuffed in it. He always gets high before a rumble. Before anything else, too, come to think of it. I shook my head. I’d hate...
Suddenly I realized, horrified, that Darry was crying. He didn’t make a sound, but tears were running down his cheeks. I hadn’t seen him cry in years, not even when Mom and Dad had been killed. (I rem...
She kind of shrugged. I could just tell. I'll bet you watch sunsets, too. She was quiet for a minute after I nodded. I used to watch them, too, before I got so busy.
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'...