John Steinbeck: Trending quotes

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John Steinbeck: 732 quotes33 likes

“But you must give him some sign, some sign that you love him… or he'll never be a man. All his life he'll feel guilty and alone unless you release him.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“For the most part people are not curious except about themselves.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

“Failure is a state of mind. It's like one of those sand traps an ant lion digs. You keep sliding back. Takes one hell of a jump to get out of it.”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent

“You can boast about anything if it's all you have. Maybe the less you have, the more you are required to boast.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolish. 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

“There are two kinds of people in the world, observers and non-observers…”

John Steinbeck book Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America

“Luck, you see, brings bitter friends.”

John Steinbeck book The Pearl

Source: The Pearl (1947), Ch. III

“When you're a child you're the center of everything. Everything happens for you. Other people? They're only ghosts furnished for you to talk to.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

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

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“Sometimes, a lie is told in kindness. I don't believe it ever works kindly. The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the slow, eating agony of a lie is never lost.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“I find out of long experience that I admire all nations and hate all governments”

John Steinbeck book Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America

“I wonder how many people I have looked at all my life and never really seen.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Variant: I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen.
Source: East of Eden

“In poverty she is envious. In riches she may be a snob. Money does not change the sickness, only the symptoms”

John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), unplaced by chapter
Context: Ellen, only last night, asked, 'Daddy, when will we be rich?' But I did not say to her what I know: 'We will be rich soon, and you who handle poverty badly will handle riches equally badly.' And that is true. In poverty she is envious. In riches she may be a snob. Money does not change the sickness, only the symptoms.

“Hard-covered books break up friendships. You loan a hard covered book to a friend and when he doesn’t return it you get mad at him. It makes you mean and petty. But twenty-five cent books are different.”

John Steinbeck

“Well, every little boy thinks he invented sin. Virtue we think we learn, because we are told about it. But sin is our own designing.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“And this you can know- fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.”

John Steinbeck book The Grapes of Wrath

Source: The Grapes of Wrath

“We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”

John Steinbeck book Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Source: Travels with Charley: In Search of America