Context

Toward the end of The Great Gatsby, Nick is starting to get majorly fed up with all the nonsense going down on the Eggs. After he gets the full scoop on Gatsby's background (and his tragic love affair with Daisy), he tells Gatsby, "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."

Check out that use of the word "worth." Daisy and Tom may have been born with money, but they're not worth anything. But Gatsby—despite his ill-gotten money—is. Of course, Nick doesn't fail to remind us that he "disapproved" of Gatsby "from beginning to end."

Make up your mind, Nick.

Where you've heard it

If anyone ever says this to you, they probably have your back...but they're also probably silently judging you. And it means you're hanging out with the wrong crowd. So yeah, back away slowly.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Nick is a pretty pretentious dude, but he is coming to the defense of Gatsby against even more pretentious people, so we'll only give this one a 6.