The Top 10 Lessons Learned from Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird"

It has been a few weeks now since the death of Harper Lee, a literary icon who passed away Feb. 19 at the age of 89. I have finally finished processing the legacy she has left behind in the world of classic American literature.

Sure, at first, I only thought about how her novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, was just one of "those" books we were assigned to read in the ninth grade. I never fully realized the impact Lee had on classic literature until now.

Her novel raises awareness to racial inequality, gender roles, innocence and rape. The protagonist and main character of the novel is Atticus Finch, a character many readers would consider to be the symbol of society's moral values and a hero. I am now more appreciative of To Kill A Mockingbird and see how the novel leaves readers with inspiration, integrity, and moral values.

Here are my top 10 quotes - and lessons - I learned in Lee's literary work of art.

1) "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."

2) "But before I can live with other folks, I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

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

4) "It's not time to worry yet."

5) "Try fighting with your head for a change...it's a good one, even if it does resist learning."

6) "Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in."

7) "I do my best to love everybody...It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is; it doesn't hurt you."

8) "Equal rights for all, special privileges for none."

9) "But you see, they could never, never understand that I live like I do because that's the way I want to live."

10) "Atticus says you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family, and they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge them or not."

For more quotes, check out Goodreads!