John Steinbeck: Trending quotes

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John Steinbeck: 732 quotes33 likes

“[He] fell right into the oldest conviction in the world-- that the girl you are in love with can't possibly be anything but true and honest.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“It is true that we are weak and sick and ugly and quarrelsome but if that is all we ever were, we would millenniums ago have disappeared from the face of the earth.”

John Steinbeck

On Intent
Writers at Work (1977)

“You are one of the rare people who can separate your observation from your preconception. You see what is, where most people see what they expect.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“Like most modern people, I don't believe in prophecy or magic and then spend half my time practicing it.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

“It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There's a punishment for it and it's usually crucifixion.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.”

John Steinbeck book The Moon Is Down

Source: The Moon Is Down

“You must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“It was deeply a part of Lee's kindness and understanding that man's right to kill himself is inviolable, but sometimes a friend can make it unnecessary”

John Steinbeck book Cannery Row

Source: Cannery Row

“Riches seem to come to the poor in spirit, the poor in interest and joy. To put it straight - the very rich are a poor bunch of bastards”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“The people say that the two seemed to be removed from human experience; that they had gone through pain and had come out on the other side.”

John Steinbeck book The Pearl

Source: The Pearl

“You know most people live ninety per cent in the past, seven per cent in the present, and that only leaves them three per cent for the future.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

“At about 10 o'clock in the morning the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows and in and out of the beam flies shot like rushing stars.”

John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men

Source: Of Mice and Men

“A man with a beard was always a little suspect anyway. You couldn't say you wore a beard because you liked a beard. People didn't like you for telling the truth. You had to say you had a scar so you couldn't shave.”

John Steinbeck book Cannery Row

Source: Cannery Row

“Says he foun' he jus' got a little piece of a great big soul. Says a wilderness ain't no good, 'cause his little piece of a soul wasn't no good 'less it was with the rest, an' was whole.”

John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men

Source: Of Mice and Men

“Only God sees the sparrow fall, but even God doesn't do anything about it.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

“He can kill anything for need but he could not even hurt a feeling for pleasure.”

John Steinbeck book Cannery Row

Source: Cannery Row

“Men don't get knocked out, or I mean they can fight back against big things. What kills them is erosion; they get nudged into failure. They get slowly scared. […]It's slow. It rots out your guts.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

“I am a little man and this is a little town, but there must be a spark in little men that can burst into flame.”

John Steinbeck book The Moon Is Down

Source: The Moon Is Down

“He drank too much when he could get it, ate too much when it was there, talked too much all the time.”

John Steinbeck book The Grapes of Wrath

Source: The Grapes of Wrath