Shoot all the bluejays 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.

“Shoot all the bluejays 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.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 10. Atticus Finch’s instruction, when he gives the childen air rifles for Christmas, foreshadowing the shooting of symbolic mockingbird Tom Robinson. The mockingbird, which sings beautiful music for the benefit of others and never does harm to anyone, is a symbol of innocence. So the rifles come with the condition attached: they are never to kill a mockingbird.

Harper Lee Quotes