As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, 'I'm probably no better than you, but I'm certainly your equal.

It remains a bestseller with more than 30 million copies in print. The following month at the Browns' East 50th townhouse Harper Lee received a gift of a year's wages from them with a note: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. [citation needed]
Lee arrived in New York City in 1949 aged 23.

Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28 1926) is an American author known for her 1961 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird which deals with the issues of racism that the author observed as a child in her hometown of Monroeville Alabama. Lee has received numerous honorary degrees but has always declined to make a speech. Despite being Lee's only publiHarper Leed book it led to her being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature.