Books Quotes by John Steinbeck

I guess there are never enough books.

— John Steinbeck

“When he read his father’s books, he was the first. He lived in a world shining and fresh and as uninspected as…

— John Steinbeck

“Oh, I guess I'm physically able to father a child. That's not what I'm thinking. I'm too closely married to a quiet…

— John Steinbeck

The literature of science is filled with answers found when the question propounded had an entirely different direction and end.

— John Steinbeck

The design of a book is the pattern of a reality controlled and shaped by the mind of a writer.

— John Steinbeck

I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied.

— John Steinbeck

“Some day, his mind said, that boy would know what things were in the books and what things were not.”

— John Steinbeck

“We have only one story. All novels, all poetry are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.”

— John Steinbeck

Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of a human need for it, and it has not changed except to…

— John Steinbeck

...Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among ideas the way a man rides white rapids in…

— John Steinbeck

“I like a lot of talk in a book and I don't like to have nobody tell me what the guy that's…

— John Steinbeck

“The house was clean, scrubbed and immaculate, curtains washed, windows polished, but all as a man does it - the ironed curtains…

— John Steinbeck

A book is like a man - clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will…

— John Steinbeck

“If only I wouldn’t take this book so seriously. It is just a book after all, and a book is very dead…

— John Steinbeck

They must be real people. And this means that every word in every line of speech must be accurate and full of…

— John Steinbeck

“And in his dream, Coyotito was reading from a book as large as a house, with letters as big as dogs, and…

— John Steinbeck

“Literature is not a game for the cloistered elect. Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for…

— John Steinbeck

I have taken as much as six years to prepare a book for writing. There is such a delirium of effort in…

— John Steinbeck

“In the books of some memories it was the best time that ever sloshed over the world - the old time, the…

— John Steinbeck

“How can the poem and the stink and the grating noise - the quality of light, the tone, the habit and the…

— John Steinbeck

Literature was not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches - nor is it a…

— John Steinbeck

“He did not know, and perhaps this doctor did. And he could not take the chance of pitting his certain ignorance against…

— John Steinbeck

“Literature was not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches - nor is it a…

— John Steinbeck

A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions…

— John Steinbeck

“The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for…

— John Steinbeck

“Tom felt his darkness. His father was beautiful and clever, his mother was short and mathematically sure. Each of his brothers and…

— John Steinbeck

“Samuel said that Tom was quavering over greatness, trying to decide whether he could take the cold responsibility. Samuel knew his son’s…

— John Steinbeck

“Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for it and it has not changed except to become…

— John Steinbeck

“Critics are the eunuchs of literature. They stand by in envious awe while the whole man and his partner demonstrate the art…

— John Steinbeck

Books are the best friends you can have; they inform you, and entertain you, and they don't talk back.

— John Steinbeck

“Unless a writer's capable of solitude, he should leave books alone and go into the theater.”

— John Steinbeck

“Your days are like pages, the chapters unread. You have to keep turning your book has no end.”

— John Steinbeck

I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in…

— John Steinbeck

“Let’s get it over and the door closed shut on it! Let’s close it like a book and go on reading! New…

— John Steinbeck

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

— John Steinbeck

I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now--only that place where the books…

— John Steinbeck

For the first time I am working on a book that is not limited and that will take every bit of experience…

— John Steinbeck

Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.

— John Steinbeck

A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions…

— John Steinbeck

We only have one story. All novels, all poetry are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.

— John Steinbeck