- Whit Burnett: I got an eye. I can spot talent coming a mile away. Saroyan, Cheever, Caldwell, I discovered them all. Of course, it would be nice if somebody discovered me.
- Jerry Salinger: Hey, come on, you've been published.
- Whit Burnett: I not only discovered them, I shaped them, I challenged them.
- [Pointing at his flat]
- Whit Burnett: This is me.
- [On the stairs]
- Whit Burnett: You should continue to write about Holden, but not as a short story.
- Jerry Salinger: Well, hang on, wait, wait, wait, wait. What do you mean?
- Whit Burnett: I think Holden Caulfield is a novel.
- Jerry Salinger: No, no, I couldn't write a whole novel. I'm a dash man, not a miler.
- Whit Burnett: You only say that because you're lazy. Holden Caulfield deserves an entire book all on his own.
- Jerry Salinger: A novel's a lot of words.
- Whit Burnett: It's just more words. Imagine the book that you would want to read and then go write it.
- Jerry Salinger: Anyway, how's everything at the home front with you? You are good with Martha chewing your ear?
- Whit Burnett: Everything at my home is fine...
- Jerry Salinger: Yeah?
- Whit Burnett: Because what you'll learn about having wife is that occasionally she just needs to yell to feel better.
- [Jerry laughing]
- Whit Burnett: Oh, and by the way, I'm awfully sorry about the New Yorker.
- Jerry Salinger: How'd you know about that?
- Whit Burnett: Oh please. They canned the Caulfield story because you wouldn't take any of their notes. You know, you cannot be a pain in the ass until you're a success.
- Jerry Salinger: Through the course of my fascinatingly dull life, I've always found fiction so much more truthful than reality-and, yes, I'm aware of the irony.