Quotes by John Steinbeck

We gather our arms full of guilt as though it were precious stuff. It must be that we want it that way.

A kind of second childhood falls on so many men. They trade their violence for the promise of a small increase of life span. In effect, the head of the house becomes the youngest child. And I have searched myself for this possibility with a kind of horror. For I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. Ive lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment. I did not want to surrender fierceness for a small gain in yardage. My wife married a man; I saw no reason why she should inherit a baby.

Two are better than one,because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lif up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up.

We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.

The Mayor spoke proudly. Yes, they will light it. I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir, but—I do have a choice of how I do it. If I tell them not to fight, they will be sorry, but they will fight. If I tell them to fight, they will be glad, and I who am not a very brae man will have made them a little braver. He smiled apologetically. You see, it is an easy thing to do, since the end for me is the same.Lanser said, If you say yes, we can tell them you said no. We can tell them you begged for your life.And Winter broke in angrily, They would know. You do not keep secrets. One of your men got out of hand one night and he said the flies had conquered the flypaper, and now the whole nation knows his words. They have made a song of it. The flies have conquered the flypaper. You do not keep secrets, Colonel.

Well, we all got to make a livin.Yeah, Tom said. Ony I wisht they was some way to make her thout takin her away from somebody else.

Then the hard, dry Spaniards came exploring through, greedy and realistic, and their greed was for gold or God. They collected souls as they collected jewels.

Sometimes it helps to pick out one person-a real person you know, or an imagined person-and write to that one.

Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material…..

If the written word has contributed anything at all to our developing species and our half developed culture, it is this: Great writing has been a staff to lean on, a mother to consult, a wisdom to pick up stumbling folly, a strength in weakness and a courage to support sick cowardice.

He thought of the virtues of courage and forbearance, which become flabby when there is nothing to use them on.

He had an idea that even when beaten he could steal a little victory by laughing at defeat.

Laughter comes later, like wisdom teeth. And laughter at yourself comes last of all in a mad race with death. And sometimes, it isnt in time.

The walls, where there was room, were well decorated with calendars and posters showing bright, improbable girls with pumped-up breasts and no hips - blondes, brunettes and redheads, but always with this bust development, so that a visitor of another species might judge from the preoccupation of artist and audience that the seat of procreation lay in the mammaries. Alice Chicoy...who worked among the shining girls, was wide-hipped and sag-chested and she walked well back on her heels...She was not in the least jealous of the calendar girls and the Coca-Cola girls. She had never seen anyone like them, and she didnt think anyone ever had.

Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids.

Lennie rolled off the bunk and stood up, and the two of them started for the door. Just as they reached it, Curley bounced in.You seen a girl around here? he demanded angrily.George said coldly, Bout half an hour ago maybe.Well, what the hell was she doin?George stood still, watching the angry little man. He said insultingly, She said--she was lookin for you.Curley seemed really to see George for the first time. His eyes flashed over George, took in his height, measured his reach, looked at his trim middle. Well, which wayd she go? he demanded at last.I dunno, said George. I didnt watch her go.Curley scowled at him, and turning, hurried out the door.George said, Ya know, Lennie, Im scared Im gonna tangle with that bastard myself. I hate his guts. Jesus Christ! Come on. There wont be a damn thing left to eat.

There’s a passage in John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” that does a pretty good job describing California’s rainfall patterns:The water came in a 30-year cycle. There would be five to six wet and wonderful years when there might be 19 to 25 inches of rain, and the land would shout with grass. Then would come six or seven pretty good years of 12 to 16 inches of rain. And then the dry years would come ...

In March the soft rains continued, and each storm waited courteously until its predecessor sunk beneath the ground.

Ghosts could walk freely tonight, without fear of the disbelief of men; for this night was haunted, and it would be an insensitive man who did not know it.

A strange species we are, We can stand anything God and nature can throw at us save only plenty. If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much, and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy, sick. --John Steinbeck to Adlai Stevenson