If your father’s anything, he’s civilized in his heart. Marksmanship’s a gift of God, a talent – oh, you have to practice to make it perfect, but shootin’s different from playing the piano or the like. I think maybe he put his gun down when he realized that God had given him an unfair advantage over most living things. I guess he decided he wouldn’t shoot till he had to, and he had to today.
– Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 10. Miss Maudie tries to explain to Jem and Scout about Atticus’s excellent markmanship and why he shows a lack of pride in it. Instead of taking pride in being the best shot in Maycomb, he put the gun down and stopped hunting. Miss Maudie points out that this was because he felt he was a civilized man and refused to take advantage of weakness.