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John Steinbeck citations
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John Ernest Steinbeck, Jr. /ˈstaɪnˌbək/, né le 27 février 1902 à Salinas et mort le 20 décembre 1968 à New York, est un écrivain américain du milieu du XXe siècle, dont les romans décrivent fréquemment sa Californie natale.

Il a reçu le prix Nobel de littérature en 1962.

✵ 27. février 1902 – 20. décembre 1968   •   Autres noms John Ernst Steinbeck
John Steinbeck photo
John Steinbeck: 384   citations 2   J'aime

John Steinbeck citations célèbres

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“Et maintenant que vous n'êtes pas obligé d'être parfait, vous pouvez être bon.”

John Steinbeck

“La notion de seconde prend de plus en plus d'importance dans les activités humaines et bientôt ce sera un dixième de seconde, puis un centième, jusqu'au jour — je ne crois pas qu'il vienne — où l'homme dira : « Et puis, après tout, qu'est-ce qu'une heure dans la vie d'un homme? » Mais cette préoccupation de la fraction de seconde n'est pas ridicule. Un fait qui se produit trop tard ou trop tôt peut dérégler le mécanisme moderne et les perturbations se propagent comme des ronds dans une flaque où l'on a jeté une pierre.”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

À l'est d'Éden, 1952, Quatrième partie, Chapitre XLIX

“Mon père disait qu'elle était forte et je crois qu’une femme peut être plus forte qu’un homme si l’amour habite son cœur. Une femme qui aime est presque indestructible."
― À l’est d’Eden, 1952”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

East of Eden

“Craignez le temps où l’Humanité refusera de souffrir, de mourir pour une idée, car cette seule qualité est le fondement de l’homme même, et cette qualité seule est l’homme, distinct dans tout l’univers.”

John Steinbeck livre Les Raisins de la colère

Les Raisins de la colère, 1939

“Certaines gens croient que c'est insulter la splendeur de leur maladie que d'aller mieux.”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

À l'est d'Éden, 1952, Deuxième partie, Chapitre XXII

“J'ai remarqué qu'il n'y avait pas de pire insatisfaction que celle du riche. Gavez un homme, cousez d'or ses vêtements, installez-le dans un palais, et il mourra de désespoir.”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

À l'est d'Éden, 1952, Troisième partie, Chapitre XXIV

John Steinbeck Citations

“On ne se coupe pas la jambe avec une banane.”

John Steinbeck

“Une vérité incroyable peut faire plus de mal qu'un mensonge.”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

À l'est d'Éden, 1952, Deuxième partie, Chapitre XXII

vérité , mensonge

“[…] il n'y a rien de plus triste qu'une amitié qui ne tient plus que par la colle des timbres-poste. Quand on ne veut plus voir, entendre, ou toucher un homme, il vaut mieux rompre les amarres.”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

À l'est d'Éden, 1952, Quatrième partie, Chapitre XXXV

hommes , amitié

“On ne peut pas faire un cheval de course d'un porc.
— Non, répondit Samuel, mais on peut en faire un porc de course.”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

À l'est d'Éden, 1952, Deuxième partie, Chapitre XXII

Cheval , Porc

“On ne peut comprendre les gens que si on les sent en soi-même.”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

À l'est d'Éden, 1952, Quatrième partie, Chapitre XXXVIII

“Il faut prendre certaines responsabilités lorsque l'on est une personne. Cela ne consiste pas uniquement à prendre la place de l'air dans l'espace. Qui es tu?”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

East of Eden

“Je sens que je suis un homme, et l'homme est une chose très importante, peut être plus importante qu'une étoile”

John Steinbeck
Sens

“« Voici pour quoi je me battrai : la liberté pour l'esprit de prendre quelque direction qui lui plaise. Et voici contre quoi je me battrai : toute idée, religion ou gouvernement qui limite ou détruit la notion d'individualité. Tel je suis, telle est ma position. Je comprends pourquoi un système conçu dans un gabarit et pour le respect du gabarit se doit d'éliminer la liberté de l'esprit, car c'est elle seule qui, par l'analyse, peut détruire le système. Oui, je comprends cela et je le hais, et je me battrai pour préserver la seule chose qui nous mette au-dessus des bêtes qui ne créent pas. » À l'est d'Éden”

John Steinbeck

“Il trouva ce qu’il allait faire. Il se dirigea vers sa pile de disques et choisit L’Art de la fugue. « Si son génie ne me donne pas de courage, autant abandonner tout de suite. » Il resta assis, immobile, écoutant Bach construire un monde, le peupler, l’organiser et finalement le combattre et être détruit par lui. Lorsque la musique s’arrêta, comme l’homme s’était arrêté lorsque la mort était venue, Doc avait retrouvé son courage. « Bach s’est battu, dit-il, il n’a pas été vaincu. S’il avait vécu, il aurait continué à se battre. Donnez-moi un peu de temps! Je veux réfléchir. Qu’avait donc Bach que je n’aie pas? N’est-ce pas la vaillance? Est-ce que la vaillance n’est pas la plus belle qualité de l’âme? » Il s’arrêta et eut soudain l’impression qu’il allait fondre en larmes. « Pourquoi ne l’ai-je pas compris tout de suite? Moi qui l’admire tant, je ne l’ai pas décelé quand je l’ai vue. Bach avait son talent, sa famille, ses amis. Chacun a quelque chose. Et Suzy, qu’a-t-elle? Rien, sinon la vaillance. Elle se bat et elle gagnera. Si elle ne gagne pas, la vie ne vaut pas la peine d’être vécue. Qu’est-ce que j’entends par gagner? se demanda Doc. Je sais. Pour gagner, il suffit de ne pas être vaincu." Tendre Jeudi, John Steinbeck.”

John Steinbeck

“Prenez-vous plaisir à souffrir? demanda Samuel. Vous voyez-vous grand et tragique? — Je ne sais pas.”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

Pensez-y. Peut-être jouez-vous un rôle sur une grande scène devant une salle vide.
À l'est d'Éden, 1952, Troisième partie, Chapitre XXIV

plaisir , grand-mère

“Il y a un meurtrier en chacun de nous, dit le shérif. Trouvez la détente et le coup partira.”

John Steinbeck livre À l'est d'Éden

À l'est d'Éden, 1952, Deuxième partie, Chapitre XVIII

“Allons, dit Lennie, comment que ça sera? On aura une petite ferme.”

John Steinbeck livre Des souris et des hommes

Des souris et des hommes, 1937

John Steinbeck: Citations en anglais

“The Mojave is a big desert and a frightening one. It’s as though nature tested a man for endurance and constancy to prove whether he was good enough to get to California.”

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John Steinbeck

Pt. 3
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)

“We are no better than the animals; in fact in a lot of ways we aren't as good.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Log from the Sea of Cortez

Source: The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951), Chapter 9

“One man was so mad at me that he ended his letter: “Beware. You will never get out of this world alive.””

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John Steinbeck

“The Mail I’ve Seen” Saturday Review (3 August 1956)

“He doesn't belong to a race clever enough to split the atom but not clever enough to live at peace with itself.”

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John Steinbeck

Pt. 4
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)

“Victor's unfortunate choice it was always to mis-see, to mis-hear, to misjudge. He read softness into her because of the softness of her voice, when she was only remembering. His was the self-centered chaos of childhood. All looks and thoughts, loves and hatreds, were directed at him. Softness was softness towards him, weakness was weakness in the face of his strength. He preheard answers and listened not. He was full-coloured and brilliant—all outside of him was pale.”

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John Steinbeck livre Burning Bright

Act One: The Circus
Burning Bright (1950)

“She envied Camille. Camille was a tramp, Mildred thought. And things were so much easier for a tramp. There was no conscience, no sense of loss, nothing but a wonderful, relaxed, stretching-cat selfishness. She could go to bed with anyone she wanted to and never see him again and have no feeling of loss or insecurity about it. That was the way Mildred thought it was with Camille. She wished she could be that way, and she knew she couldn't. Couldn't because of her mother. And the unbidden thought entered her mind—if her mother were only dead Mildred's life would be so much simpler. She could have a secret little place to live somewhere. Almost fiercely, she brushed the thought away. "What a foul thing to think," she said to herself ceremoniously. But it was a dream she often had.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Wayward Bus

Source: The Wayward Bus (1947), Ch. 13. Mildred is the daughter of Elliot and Bernice Pritchard.

“The President must be greater than anyone else, but not better than anyone else. We subject him and his family to close and constant scrutiny and denounce them for things that we ourselves do every day. A Presidential slip of the tongue, a slight error in judgment — social, political, or ethical — can raise a storm of protest. We give the President more work than a man can do, more responsibility than a man should take, more pressure than a man can bear. We abuse him often and rarely praise him. We wear him out, use him up, eat him up. And with all this, Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him.”

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John Steinbeck livre America and Americans

America and Americans (1966)

“When you argue with a child," she said warmly, "you give a good argument and the child says yah, yah! You understand him and he doesn't listen, so the child wins.”

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John Steinbeck livre Burning Bright

Mordeen to Victor in Act One: The Circus
Burning Bright (1950)

“What a wonderful thing a woman is. I can admire what they do even if I don't understand why.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Winter of Our Discontent

The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), unplaced by chapter

“It is a nice thing to be working and believing in my work again. I hope I can keep the drive. I only feel whole and well when it is this way.”

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John Steinbeck

Letter to Elizabeth Otis, once he had begun The Grapes of Wrath (1 June 1938)

“He didn't believe in psychiatrists, he said. But actually he did believe in them, so much that he was afraid of them.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Wayward Bus

Source: The Wayward Bus (1947), Ch. 13. "He" is Elliot Pritchard.

“Good God, what a mess of draggle-tail impulses a man is — and a woman too, I guess.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Part Two, Chapter XIV

“There's something desirable about anything you're used to as opposed to something you're not.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Part One, Chapter VIII

“His guard was up now and he wasn't listening; he was only angry because here was a world he could not enter and so he had to disbelieve in its existence. He fell back on the world he knew.”

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John Steinbeck livre Burning Bright

Act One: The Circus. "He" is Victor.
Burning Bright (1950)

“Writers are a little below clowns and a little above trained seals.”

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John Steinbeck

Quote magazine (18 June 1961)

“… we've got so many laws you can't breathe without breaking something.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Part Two, Chapter XIV

“Her body and her mind were sluggish and lazy, and deep down she fought a tired envy of the people who, so she thought, experienced good things while she went through life a gray cloud in a gray room. Having few actual perceptions, she lived by rules. Education is good. Self-control is necessary. Everything in its time and place. Travel is broadening. And it was this last axiom which had forced her finally on the vacation to Mexico.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Wayward Bus

About Bernice Pritchard in Ch. 5
The Wayward Bus (1947)

“For every man in the world functions to the best of his ability, and no one does less than his best, no matter what he may think about it.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Pearl

Source: The Pearl (1947), Ch. IV

“I guess this is why I hate governments. It is always the rule, the fine print, carried out by the fine print men. There's nothing to fight, no wall to hammer with frustrated fists.”

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John Steinbeck

Pt. 2
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)

“All hell has broken loose. I admit our Russian is limited, but we can say hello, come in, you are beautiful, oh no you don't. … So in our pride we ordered for breakfast an omelet, toast and coffee and what has just arrived is a tomato salad with onions, a dish of pickles, a big slice of watermelon and two bottles of cream soda. Something has slipped badly.”

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John Steinbeck

On difficulties while traveling in the USSR (20 August 1947), in Steinbeck : A Life in Letters (1976)

“Not only the brave get killed, but the brave have a better chance of it.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Part Two, Chapter XIV

“The mountains of things we throw away are much greater than the things we use. In this, if in no other way, we can see the wild and reckless exuberance of our production, and waste seems to be the index.”

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John Steinbeck

Pt. 2
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)

“He brought his malformed wisdom, his pool-hall, locker-room, joke-book wisdom to the front.”

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John Steinbeck livre Burning Bright

Act One: The Circus. "He" is Victor.
Burning Bright (1950)

“This monster of a land, this mightiest of nations, this spawn of the future, turns out to be the macrocosm of microcosm me.”

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John Steinbeck

Pt. 3
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)

“If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy and sick.”

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John Steinbeck

Letter to Adlai Stevenson (5 November 1959), quoted in The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer : A Biography (1984), by Jackson J. Benson, p. 876

“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. I’ve 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.”

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John Steinbeck

Pt. 1
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)

“Mr. Pritchard was a businessman, president of a medium-sized corporation. He was never alone. His business was conducted by groups of men like himself who joined together in clubs so that no foreign element or idea could enter. His religious life was again his lodge and his church, both of which were screened and protected. One night a week he played poker with men so exactly like himself that the game was fairly even, and from this fact his group was convinced that they were very fine poker players. Wherever he went he was not one man but a unit in a corporation, a unit in a club, in a lodge, in a church, in a political party. His thoughts and ideas were never subjected to criticism since he willingly associated only with people like himself. He read a newspaper written by and for his group. The books that came into his house were chosen by a committee which deleted material that might irritate him. He hated foreign countries and foreigners because it was difficult to find his counterpart in them. He did not want to stand out from his group. He would like to have risen to the top of it and be admired by it; but it would not occur to him to leave it. At occasional stags where naked girls danced on the tables and sat in great glasses of wine, Mr. Pritchard howled with laughter and drank the wine, but five hundred Mr. Pritchards were there with him.”

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John Steinbeck livre The Wayward Bus

Source: The Wayward Bus (1947), Ch. 3

“Such is the prestige of the Nobel award and of this place where I stand that I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession and in the great and good men who have practiced it through the ages.”

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John Steinbeck

Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1962)

“Does anyone ever know even the outer fringe of another? What are you like in there? Mary — do you hear? Who are you in there?”

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John Steinbeck livre The Winter of Our Discontent

Source: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Part One, Chapter III

“The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage.”

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John Steinbeck

Pt. 1
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)

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