Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do. It aggravates ‘em. You’re not gonna change any of them by talkin’ right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language." - Meaning and context.">
QuotesCosmos
Pt. 2, ch. 12
• Calpurnia
“

Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do. It aggravates ‘em. You’re not gonna change any of them by talkin’ right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.

— Harper Lee

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do. It aggravates ‘em. You’re not gonna change any of them by talkin’ right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language." in the context of "Pt. 2, ch. 12
• Calpurnia" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Harper Lee" (Quotes, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Harper Lee#learn#dont#aggravates#themselves#somebody#language#nothing#around#knowin#change#talkin
Harper Lee

About Harper Lee

Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016) was an American novelist and author of the classic 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.