Ponyboy Curtis’s narration of The Outsiders shows his character growth.
Through Cherry Valence, Ponyboy helps end the hatred between the Greasers and the Socs.
Johnny Cade saves Ponyboy from the Socs. He also helps Ponyboy “Stay Gold.” or keep his innocence.
Ponyboy also strengthens the bond between the Curtis brothers.
The Outsiders Quotes With Page Numbers
The Outsiders Ponyboy Direct Quotes With Page Numbers
“If I had thought about it, I could have called Darry and he would have come by on his way home and picked me up, or Two-Bit Mathews— one of our gang— would have come to get me in his car if I had asked him, but sometimes I just don’t use my head.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 1, Pages 3, 4
“They were the only kind of girls that would look at us, I thought. Tough, loud girls who wore too much eye makeup and giggled and swore too
much. ”~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 1, Page 14
“Dallas could talk awful dirty if he wanted to and I guess he wanted to then. I felt my ears get hot. Two-Bit or Steve or even Soda would have gone right along with him, just to see if they could embarrass the girls, but that kind of kicks just doesn’t appeal to me. I sat there, struck dumb…”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 1, Page 20
“I couldn’t ever cut anyone.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 3, Page 45
“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, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 3, Page 46
“Man, that was a tuff car. Mustangs are tuff.”
“Big time Socs, all right,” I said, a nervous bitterness growing inside me. It wasn’t fair for the Socs to have everything. We were as good as they were; it wasn’t our fault we were greasers. I couldn’t just take it or leave it, like Two-Bit, or ignore it and love life anyway, like Sodapop, or harden myself beyond caring, like Dally, or actually enjoy it, like Tim Shepard. I felt the tension growing inside of me and I knew something had to happen or I would explode.”~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 3, Page 47
“I don’t know why I handed you that busted bottle,” Two-Bit said, getting to his feet. “You’d never use it.”
“Maybe I would have,” I said. “Where you headed?”
“Gonna go play a little snooker and hunt up a poker game. Maybe get rip-roarin’ drunk. I dunno. See y’all tomorrow.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Characters: Two-Bit Mathews and Ponyboy Curtis), Chapter 3, Page 47
“‘Oh no!’ My hand flew to my hair. ‘No, Johnny, not my hair!‘”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 5, Page 71
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.”~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 5, Page 77
“…people get hurt in rumbles, maybe killed. I’m sick of it because it doesn’t do any good. You can’t win…even if you whip us. You’ll still be where you were before- at the bottom. And we’ll still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. So it doesn’t do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn’t prove a thing. Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs. Sometimes I think it’s the ones in the middle that are really the lucky stiffs . .”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about greasers, identity, social class (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 7, Page 117
“You’re a traitor to your own kind and not loyal to us.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about social class (Character: Ponyboy and Cherry), Chapter 8, Page 124
“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, about social class (Character: Ponyboy and Cherry), Chapter 8, Pages 129, 130
“If we don’t have each other, we don’t have anything.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about sticking together, friendship (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 12, Page 176
“I like to watch movies undisturbed so I can get into them and live them with the actors. When I see a movie with someone it’s kind of uncomfortable, like having someone read your book over your shoulder.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Pages 1, 2
“Greasers can’t walk alone too much or they’ll get jumped, or someone will come by and scream “Greaser!” at them, which doesn’t make you feel too hot, if you know what I mean. We get jumped by the Socs. I’m not sure how you spell it, but it’s the abbreviation for the Socials, the jet set, the West-side rich kids. It’s like the term “greaser,” which is used to class all us boys on the East Side.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about greasers (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 2
“I’m not saying that either Socs or greasers are better; that’s just the way things are.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about greasers, identity (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 3
“His eyes are dark brown—lively, dancing, recklessly laughing eyes that can be gentle and sympathetic one moment and blazing with anger the next.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Darry (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 8
“He gets drunk on just plain living. And he understands everybody.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Sodapop, friendship (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 8
“He liked fights, blonds, and for some unfathomable reason, school.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Two-Bit (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 10
“Tough and tuff are two different words. Tough is the same as tough; tuff means cool, sharp–like a tuff-looking Mustang or a tuff record. In our neighborhood both are compliments.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about identity (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 12
“I had to read Great Expectations for English, and that kid Pip, he reminded me of us—the way he felt marked lousy because he wasn’t a gentleman or anything, and the way that girl kept looking down on him.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about social class, identity (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 15
“We deserve a lot of our trouble.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Dally (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 16
“I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 18
“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, about friendship (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 2, Page 26
“I don’t care too much for girls yet. Soda says I’ll grow out of it. He did.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 2, Page 31
“I really couldn’t see what the Socs would have to sweat about – good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs – Man, I thought, if I had worries like that I’d consider myself lucky.
I know better now.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about social class, stereotypes (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 2, Page 36
“You’re not so smart at ten.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 3, Page 40
“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, about stereotypes, identity (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 3, Pages 40, 41
“Looking tough comes in handy.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about stereotypes (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 3, Page 45
“I couldn’t ever cut anyone.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about identity (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 3, Page 45
“It’s okay,” I said, wishing I was dead and buried somewhere.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 3, Page 46
“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, about social class, stereotypes (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 3, Page 46
“It was a cold night and all I had was that sweat shirt, but I could watch stars in subzero weather.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 3, Page 47
“I only wanted to lie on my back under a tree and read a book or draw a picture, and not worry about being jumped or carrying a blade or ending up married to some scatterbrained broad with no sense,”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about social class (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 3, Page 48
“Since I was dreaming, I brought Mom and Dad back to life…”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 3, Page 48
“My mother was golden and beautiful.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 3, Page 48
“It would be a miracle if Dally loved anything. The fight for self-preservation had hardened him beyond caring.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Dally (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 4, Page 59
“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. Nobody but Dally would know where we were, and he couldn’t tell anyone because he’d get jailed again for giving us that gun. If Johnny got caught, they’d give him the electric chair, and if they caught me, I’d be sent to a reformatory. I’d heard about reformatories from Curly Shepard and I didn’t want to go to one at all. So we’d have to be hermits for the rest of our lives…”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about sticking together (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 4, Page 65
“I can lie so easily that it spooks me sometimes— Soda says it comes form reading so much. But then, Two-Bit lias all the time too, and he never opens a book.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 4, Page 65
“But that day…well, Soda can’t sit still long enough to enjoy a movie, much less a sermon. It wasn’t long before he and Steve and Two-Bit were throwing paper wads at each other and clowning around, and finally Steve dropped a hymn book with a bang–accidentally, of course. Everyone in the place turned to look around at us, and Johnny and I nearly crawled under the pews. And then Two-Bit waved at them.
I hadn’t been to church since.”~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 4, Page 66
“…his teachers thought he was just dumb. But he wasn’t. He was just a little slow to get things, and he liked to explore things once he did get them.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Two-Bit, stereotypes (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 5, Page 75
“I liked my books and clouds and sunsets.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 5, Page 76
“Dally was so real he scared me.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Dally (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 5, Page 76
“The dawn was coming then. All the lower valley was covered with mist, and sometimes little pieces of it broke off and floated away in small clouds. The sky was lighter in the east, and the horizon was a thin golden line. The clouds changed from gray to pink, and the mist was touched with gold. There was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the sun rose. It was beautiful.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 5, Page 77
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.”~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 5, Page 77
“tears were running down his cheeks. I hadn’t seen him cry in years, not even when Mom and Dad had been killed. (I remembered the funeral. I had sobbed in spite of myself; Soda had broken down and bawled like a baby; but Darry had only stood there, his fists in his pockets and that look on his face, the same helpless, pleading look that he was wearing now.) In that second what Soda and Dally and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me came through. Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me. When he yelled “Pony, where have you been all this time?” he meant “Pony, you’ve scared me to death. Please be careful, because I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you.” Darry looked down and turned away silently. Suddenly I broke out of my daze. “Darry!” I screamed, and the next thing I knew I had him around the waist and was squeezing the daylights out of him. “Darry,” I said, “I’m sorry . . .” He was stroking my hair and I could hear the sobs racking him as he fought to keep back the tears. “Oh, Pony, I thought we’d lost you . . . like we did Mom and Dad . . .” That was his silent fear then—of losing another person he loved. I remembered how close he and Dad had been, and I wondered how I could ever have thought him hard and unfeeling. I listened to his heart pounding through his T-shirt and knew everything was going to be okay now. I had taken the long way around, but I was finally home. To stay.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Darry (Character: Ponyboy as narrator and Darry and Ponyboy), Chapter 6, Page 98
“Maybe people are younger when they are asleep.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 7, Page 104
“…people get hurt in rumbles, maybe killed. I’m sick of it because it doesn’t do any good. You can’t win…even if you whip us. You’ll still be where you were before- at the bottom. And we’ll still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. So it doesn’t do any good, the fighting and the killing. It doesn’t prove a thing. Greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs. Sometimes I think it’s the ones in the middle that are really the lucky stiffs . .”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about greasers, identity, social class (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 7, Page 117
“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, about social class, stereotypes (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 7, Page 118
“We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang. And for the same reason.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about sticking together, friends (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 8, Page 121
“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, about social class (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 8, Page 122
“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, about social class (Character: Ponyboy and Cherry), Chapter 8, Pages 129, 130
“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 to see the day when I had to get my nerve from a can.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Two-Bit (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 9, Page 137
“There isn’t any real good reason for fighting except self-defense.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 9, Page 137
“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, about stereotypes, identity (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 9, Page 141
“That’s stupid, I thought swiftly, they’ve both come here to fight and they’re both supposed to be smarter than that. What difference does the side make?”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 9, Page 142
“They shouldn’t hate each other . . . I don’t hate the Socs any more . . . they shouldn’t hate . . .”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about stereotypes, identity (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 9, Page 143
“Johnny was the only thing Dally loved. And now Johnny was gone.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Dally (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 10, Page 152
“Darry took a step toward me, but I backed away. “Don’t touch me,” I said. My heart was pounding in slow thumps, throbbing at the side of my head, and I wondered if everyone else could hear it. Maybe that’s why they’re all looking at me, I thought, they can hear my heart beating…”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 10, Page 153
“…yesterday was years ago. A lifetime ago.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 10, Page 154
“…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, about Dally (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 10, Page 154
“Two of my friends died that night: one a hero, the other a hoodlum.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about friendship (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 10, Page 154
“Dally didn’t die a hero. He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he’d die someday…But Johnny was right. He died gallant.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Dally (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 10, Page 154
“I´d rather have anybody´s hate than their pity”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 11, Page 162
“Get smart and nothing can touch you.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 12, Page 171
“If we don’t have each other, we don’t have anything.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about sticking together, friendship (Character: Ponyboy), Chapter 12, Page 176
“Race you,” I challenged, leaping up. It was a real nice night for a race. The air was clear and cold and so clean it almost sparkled. The moon wasn’t out but the stars lit up everything. It was quiet except for the sound of our feet on the cement and the dry, scraping sound of leaves blowing across the street. It was a real nice night. I guess I was still out of shape, because we all thee tied. No. I guess we all just wanted to stay together.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about sticking together, friendship (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 12, Page 177
“You know a guy 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, about friendship (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 12, Page 178
“I guess he had listened to more beefs and more problems from more people than any of us. A guy that’ll really listen to you, listen and care about what you’re saying, is something rare.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Johnny, friendship (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 12, Page 178
“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, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better. I could see boys going under street lights because they were mean and tough and hated the world, and it was too late to tell them that there was still good in it, and they wouldn’t believe you if you did. It was too much of a problem to be just a personal thing. There should be some help, someone should tell them before it was too late. Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand then and wouldn’t be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Dally, stereotypes (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 12, Page 179
“I wondered for a long time how to start that theme, how to start writing about something that was important to me. And I finally began like this: When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home…”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 12, Page 180
Ponyboy Quotes About Johnny
“…At least you got Soda. I ain’t got nobody.’ ‘Shoot,’ I said, startled out of my misery, ‘you got the whole gang. Dally didn’t slug you tonight cause you’re the pet. I mean, golly, Johnny, you got the whole gang.’ ‘It ain’t the same as having your own folks care about you,’ Johnny said simply. ‘it just ain’t the same.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Johnny Cade and Ponyboy), Chapter 3, Pages 51, 52
“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. Nobody but Dally would know where we were, and he couldn’t tell anyone because he’d get jailed again for giving us that gun. If Johnny got caught, they’d give him the electric chair, and if they caught me, I’d be sent to a reformatory. I’d heard about reformatories from Curly Shepard and I didn’t want to go to one at all. So we’d have to be hermits for the rest of our lives…”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about sticking together (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 4, Page 65
“But that day…well, Soda can’t sit still long enough to enjoy a movie, much less a sermon. It wasn’t long before he and Steve and Two-Bit were throwing paper wads at each other and clowning around, and finally Steve dropped a hymn book with a bang–accidentally, of course. Everyone in the place turned to look around at us, and Johnny and I nearly crawled under the pews. And then Two-Bit waved at them.
I hadn’t been to church since.”~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 4, Page 66
“Johnny almost grinned as he nodded. “Tuff enough,” he managed, and by the way his eyes were glowing, I figured Southern gentlemen had nothing on Johnny Cade.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Johnny Cade and Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 8, Page 120
“We needed Johnny as much as he needed the gang. And for the same reason.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about sticking together, friends (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 8, Page 121
“Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold . . .” The pillow seemed to sink a little, and Johnny died.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Character: Johnny Cade), Chapter 9, Page 148
“Johnny was the only thing Dally loved. And now Johnny was gone.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Dally (Character: Ponyboy as narrator), Chapter 10, Page 152
“I guess he had listened to more beefs and more problems from more people than any of us. A guy that’ll really listen to you, listen and care about what you’re saying, is something rare.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, about Johnny, friendship (Character: Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 12, Page 178
What is Ponyboy’s famous quote?
“Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Ponyboy), Chapter 5, Page 77
What is Ponyboy known for saying?
“I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 1, Page 18
What quote shows that Ponyboy is smart?
“There isn’t any real good reason for fighting except self-defense.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 9, Page 137
“I liked my books and clouds and sunsets.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Ponyboy as the narrator), Chapter 5, Page 76
“If we don’t have each other, we don’t have anything.”
~S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders, (Ponyboy), Chapter 12, Page 176
What is Ponyboy obsessed with?
Ponyboy is obsessed with sunsets, his brothers, and sticking together.
Further Reading: