Quotes from book
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights is John Steinbeck's retelling of the Arthurian legend, based on the Winchester Manuscript text of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. He began his adaptation in November 1956. Steinbeck had long been a lover of the Arthurian legends. The introduction to his translation contains an anecdote about him reading them as a young boy. His enthusiasm for Arthur is apparent in the work. The book was left unfinished at his death, and ends with the death of chivalry in Arthur's purest knight, Lancelot of the Lake.Steinbeck took a "living approach" to the retelling of Malory's work. He followed Malory's structure and retained the original chapter titles, but he explored the psychological underpinning of the events, and tuned the use of language to sound natural and accessible to a Modern English speaker:


John Steinbeck photo
John Steinbeck photo

“The final weapon is the brain, all else is supplemental.”

Source: The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

John Steinbeck photo

“The profession of book-writing makes horse-racing seem like a solid, stable business.”

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976), but a statement he is first quoted as having made in Newsweek (24 December 1962)

John Steinbeck photo
John Steinbeck photo

“Most people live in a half-dream all their lives and call it reality.”

Appendix, letter to Elizabeth Otis (25 July 1959)
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

John Steinbeck photo

“Writers are a sorry lot. The best you can say of them is that they are better than actors and that's not much.”

Appendix, letter to Chase Horton (8 June 1959)
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

John Steinbeck photo

“An artist should be open on all sides to every kind of light and darkness.”

Appendix, letter to Elizabeth Otis and Chase Horton (20 April 1959)
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

John Steinbeck photo
John Steinbeck photo

“In the combat between wisdom and feeling, wisdom never wins.”

Merlin to King Arthur in "The Death of Merlin"
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

John Steinbeck photo

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