I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.

The line is spoken by Holden Caulfield, the teenage narrator of J. D. Salinger’s novel *The Catcher in the Rye* (1951). Holden is recounting his experiences in New York City after leaving Pencey Prep, and he repeatedly fixates on what he sees as adult “phoniness”—the social scripts and polite lies people use to get through everyday interactions. In this moment he reflects on the automatic niceties exchanged with strangers or acquaintances (“Glad to’ve met you”), even when the feeling is not genuine. The remark fits Holden’s broader pattern of cynical, self-aware commentary on manners, hypocrisy, and the pressures of fitting in.

Holden’s complaint targets the gap between what people feel and what social life requires them to say. “Glad to’ve met you” becomes a survival phrase: a small, conventional lie that keeps interactions smooth and prevents conflict. The irony is that Holden both despises this performative politeness and recognizes its necessity—suggesting that sincerity is costly in a world governed by etiquette and power dynamics. The line also reveals Holden’s vulnerability: he experiences ordinary social conventions as coercive, even threatening, which underscores his alienation and his longing for a more honest, less transactional way of relating to others.