“He said to shine them anyway. He said to shine them for the Fat Lady.”
Franny and Zooey (1961), Zooey (1957)
Context: Seymour'd told me to shine my shoes just as I was going out the door with Waker. I was furious. The studio audience were all morons, the announcer was a moron, the sponsors were morons, and I just damn well wasn't going to shine my shoes for them, I told Seymour. I said they couldn't see them anyway, where we sat. He said to shine them anyway. He said to shine them for the Fat Lady. I didn't know what the hell he was talking about, but he had a very Seymour look on his face, and so I did it. He never did tell me who the Fat Lady was, but I shined my shoes for the Fat Lady every time I ever went on the air again — all the years you and I were on the program together, if you remember. I don't think I missed more than just a couple of times. This terribly clear, clear picture of the Fat Lady formed in my mind. I had her sitting on this porch all day, swatting flies, with her radio going full-blast from morning till night. I figured the heat was terrible, and she probably had cancer, and — I don't know. Anyway, it seemed goddam clear why Seymour wanted me to shine my shoes when I went on the air. It made sense.
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Jerome David Salinger 83
American writer 1919–2010Related quotes

“The sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.”
Source: Things Fall Apart (1958), Chapter 1 (p. 11)

“It may be said that his wit shines at the expense of his memory.”
Book III, ch. 11. Compare: "The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts", Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Speech in Reply to Mr. Dundas, in Sheridaniana.
Gil Blas (1715-1735)

“Little light shining,
Little light will guide them to me.”
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave
Context: Little light shining,
Little light will guide them to me.
My face is all lit up,
My face is all lit up.
Os Brâmanes (1866). p. 107
Os Brâmanes (1866)

“He made an instrument to know
If the moon shine at full or no.”
Canto III, line 261
Source: Hudibras, Part II (1664)