John Steinbeck quotes - page 14

I have never even wondered about the comparative standing of writers. I don't understand that. Writing to me is a deeply personal, even a secret function and when the product is turned loose it is cut off from me and I have no sense of its being mine. Consequently criticism doesn't mean anything to me. As a disciplinary matter, it is too late. (John Steinbeck)
I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why. View quote
John Steinbeck
..it's awful not to be loved. It's the worst thing in the world...It makes you mean, and violent, and cruel. View quote
John Steinbeck
How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him--he has known a fear beyond every other. View quote
John Steinbeck
There's a responsibility in being a person. It's more than just taking up space where air would be. View quote
John Steinbeck
I've lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather than climate. View quote
John Steinbeck
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. View quote
John Steinbeck
Do you take pride in your hurt?” Samuel asked. "Does it make you seem large and tragic?” "I don't know.” "Well, think about it. Maybe you're playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience. View quote
John Steinbeck
A good writer always works at the impossible. View quote
John Steinbeck
Perhaps it takes courage to raise children. View quote
John Steinbeck
We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say -- and to feel -- ''Yes, that's the way it is, or at least that's the way I feel it. You're not as alone as you thought.'' (John Steinbeck)
He saw something that makes a man doubtful of the constancy of the realities outside himself. It was the shocking discovery that makes a man wonder if I've missed this, what else have I failed to see? View quote
John Steinbeck
Don't you love Jesus?' Well, I thought an' I thought an' finally I says, 'No, I don't know nobody name' Jesus. I know a bunch of stories, but I only love people. View quote
John Steinbeck
Yes, you should talk," he said. "Sometimes a sad man can talk the sadness right out through his mouth. Sometimes a killin' man can talk the murder right out of his mouth. View quote
John Steinbeck
life passes by in a wink so try to never miss a moment of it. View quote
John Steinbeck
I'll want to hear,' Samuel said. 'I eat stories like grapes. View quote
John Steinbeck
Trouble with mice is you always kill 'em. View quote
John Steinbeck
Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. View quote
John Steinbeck
Lennie begged, "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now." "Sure right now. I gotta. We gotta. View quote
John Steinbeck
You're going to pass something down no matter what you do or if you do nothing. Even if you let yourself go fallow, the weeds will grow and the brambles. Something will grow. View quote
John Steinbeck
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)
Man has become our greatest hazard, and our only hope. View quote
John Steinbeck
I know this -- a man got to do what he got to do. View quote
John Steinbeck
The death of children by starvation in our valleys is simply staggering. ... I'll do what I can. ... Funny how mean and little books become in the face of such tragedies. View quote
John Steinbeck
I'm jus' pain covered with skin. View quote
John Steinbeck