Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to
kill a mockingbird." That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a
sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. "Your father’s right,"
she said. "Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy.
They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one
thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a
mockingbird.”