--- title: "11 Adam Quotes By John Steinbeck" description: "11 Adam quotes by John Steinbeck. Plus more from John Steinbeck and more Adam sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/john-steinbeck-71_memory_you-re-too-young-a-man-to-be-panning-mem_1408485.jpg" --- > [“You're too young a man to be panning memories, Adam. You should be getting yourself some new ones, so that the mining…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/you-re-too-young-a-man-to-be-panning-memories-adam-you-should-be/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/john-steinbeck-71_memory_you-re-too-young-a-man-to-be-panning-mem_1408485.jpg) > [“Help him, Adam--help him. Give him his chance. Let him be free. That's all a man has over the beasts. Free him!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/help-him-adam-help-him-give-him-his-chance-let-him-be-free-that-s-all/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6e/john-steinbeck-71_adam_help-him-adam-help-him-give-him-his-chan_2559879.jpg) > [At one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/at-one-point-as-samuel-urges-adam-to-raise-his-boys-well-regardless/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/john-steinbeck-71_adam_at-one-point-as-samuel-urges-adam-to-rai_1170309.jpg) > [“Charles had more respect for Adam after he knew about the prison. He felt the warmth for his brother you can feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/charles-had-more-respect-for-adam-after-he-knew-about-the-prison-he/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81e/john-steinbeck-71_respect_charles-had-more-respect-for-adam-after_1107430.jpg) > [“Look, Samuel, I mean to make a garden of my land. Remember my name is Adam. So far I’ve had no Eden,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/look-samuel-i-mean-to-make-a-garden-of-my-land-remember-my-name-is/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/567/john-steinbeck-71_gardening_look-samuel-i-mean-to-make-a-garden-of-m_2136554.jpg) > [“them,” he said. “The dust is warm,” said Samuel. “Now it goes this way. ‘And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/them-he-said-the-dust-is-warm-said-samuel-now-it-goes-this-way-and/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2c/john-steinbeck-71_adam_them-he-said-the-dust-is-warm-said-samue_2551631.jpg) > [I am sifting my memories, the way men pan the dirt under a barroom floor for the bits of gold dust that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-am-sifting-my-memories-the-way-men-pan-the-dirt-under-a-barroom/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b9/john-steinbeck-71_adam_i-am-sifting-my-memories-the-way-men-pan_2523912.jpg) > [“I’d think there are degrees of greatness,” Adam said. “I don’t think so,” said Samuel. “That would be like saying there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness-adam-said-i-don-t-think-so/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/571/john-steinbeck-71_learning_i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness_16076.jpg) > [“Adam seemed clothed in a viscosity that slowed his movements and held his thoughts down. He saw the world through gray water.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/adam-seemed-clothed-in-a-viscosity-that-slowed-his-movements-and-held/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/john-steinbeck-71_psychology_adam-seemed-clothed-in-a-viscosity-that_1599840.jpg) > [“Adam found his father out. It wasn’t that his father changed but that some new quality came to Adam. He had always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/adam-found-his-father-out-it-wasn-t-that-his-father-changed-but-that/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbc/john-steinbeck-71_little-man_adam-found-his-father-out-it-wasn-t-that_1670098.jpg) > [“Adam wet his dry lips and tried to ask and failed and tried again. "Why do they have to do it?" he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/adam-wet-his-dry-lips-and-tried-to-ask-and-failed-and-tried-again-why/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/john-steinbeck-71_dry-lips_adam-wet-his-dry-lips-and-tried-to-ask-a_357012.jpg) ## Other authors on Adam ## More by John Steinbeck > [ Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three \[great teachers\] did not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-the-arts-since-the-medium-is/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [Prayer never brought in no side-meat. Takes a shoat to bring in pork.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/prayer-never-brought-in-no-side-meat-takes-a-shoat-to-bring-in-pork/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“And now submarines are armed with mass murder, our silly, only way of deterring mass murder.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/and-now-submarines-are-armed-with-mass-murder-our-silly-only-way-of/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“I’d think there are degrees of greatness,” Adam said. “I don’t think so,” said Samuel. “That would be like saying there is a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness-adam-said-i-don-t-think-so/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“He was forever inventing a new way of doing an old thing and doing it better and quicker, but he never in his whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/he-was-forever-inventing-a-new-way-of-doing-an-old-thing-and-doing-it/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“You come back a changed man. Samuel, you don’t change him. He changes you. I can see the look of him in your face.”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/you-come-back-a-changed-man-samuel-you-don-t-change-him-he-changes/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I find out of long experience that I admire all nations and hate all governments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-find-out-of-long-experience-that-i-admire-all-nations-and-hate-all/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [At about 10 o'clock in the morning the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows and in and out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/at-about-10-o-clock-in-the-morning-the-sun-threw-a-bright-dust-laden/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I have noticed that there is no dissatisfaction like that of the rich. Feed a man, clothe him, put him in a good house,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-have-noticed-that-there-is-no-dissatisfaction-like-that-of-the-rich/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“Who in his mind has not probe the dark water?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/who-in-his-mind-has-not-probe-the-dark-water/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/sometimes-a-lie-is-told-in-kindness-i-don-t-believe-it-ever-works/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [People like you to be something, preferably what they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/people-like-you-to-be-something-preferably-what-they-are/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“Suddenly he knew joy and sorrow felted into one fabric. Courage and fear were one thing too. He found that he had started to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/suddenly-he-knew-joy-and-sorrow-felted-into-one-fabric-courage-and/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I am writing this from what we Americans call Yurrp. In Yurrp writers are taken as seriously as Lana Turner's legs are in America…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-am-writing-this-from-what-we-americans-call-yurrp-in-yurrp-writers/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I write because I like to write. I find joy in the texture and tone and rhythm of words. It is a satisfaction like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-write-because-i-like-to-write-i-find-joy-in-the-texture-and-tone/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adam/john-steinbeck/#itemlist", "name": "11 Adam Quotes By John Steinbeck", "numberOfItems": 11, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“You're too young a man to be panning memories, Adam. 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He felt the warmth for his brother you can feel only for one who is not perfect and therefore no target for your hatred.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Steinbeck" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/charles-had-more-respect-for-adam-after-he-knew-about-the-prison-he/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81e/john-steinbeck-71_respect_charles-had-more-respect-for-adam-after_1107430.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81e/john-steinbeck-71_respect_charles-had-more-respect-for-adam-after_1107430.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81e/john-steinbeck-71_respect_charles-had-more-respect-for-adam-after_1107430.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Charles had more respect for Adam after he knew about the prison. 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He chuckled.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Steinbeck" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/look-samuel-i-mean-to-make-a-garden-of-my-land-remember-my-name-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/567/john-steinbeck-71_gardening_look-samuel-i-mean-to-make-a-garden-of-m_2136554.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/567/john-steinbeck-71_gardening_look-samuel-i-mean-to-make-a-garden-of-m_2136554.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/567/john-steinbeck-71_gardening_look-samuel-i-mean-to-make-a-garden-of-m_2136554.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Look, Samuel, I mean to make a garden of my land. Remember my name is Adam. So far I’ve had no Eden, let…” — John Steinbeck", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“them,” he said. “The dust is warm,” said Samuel. “Now it goes this way. ‘And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man from the Lord.” ”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Steinbeck" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/them-he-said-the-dust-is-warm-said-samuel-now-it-goes-this-way-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2c/john-steinbeck-71_adam_them-he-said-the-dust-is-warm-said-samue_2551631.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2c/john-steinbeck-71_adam_them-he-said-the-dust-is-warm-said-samue_2551631.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2c/john-steinbeck-71_adam_them-he-said-the-dust-is-warm-said-samue_2551631.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“them,” he said. “The dust is warm,” said Samuel. “Now it goes this way. ‘And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she…” — John Steinbeck", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I am sifting my memories, the way men pan the dirt under a barroom floor for the bits of gold dust that fall between the cracks. It's small mining-- small mining. You're too young a man to be panning memories, Adam. You should be getting yourself some new ones, so that the mining will be richer when you come to age.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Steinbeck" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-am-sifting-my-memories-the-way-men-pan-the-dirt-under-a-barroom/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b9/john-steinbeck-71_adam_i-am-sifting-my-memories-the-way-men-pan_2523912.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b9/john-steinbeck-71_adam_i-am-sifting-my-memories-the-way-men-pan_2523912.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b9/john-steinbeck-71_adam_i-am-sifting-my-memories-the-way-men-pan_2523912.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I am sifting my memories, the way men pan the dirt under a barroom floor for the bits of gold dust that fall…” — John Steinbeck", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I’d think there are degrees of greatness,” Adam said. “I don’t think so,” said Samuel. “That would be like saying there is a little bigness. No. I believe when you come to that responsibility - that hugeness - you are alone to make your choice. On one side you have warmth and companionship and sweet understanding, and on the other cold, lonely greatness. There you make your choice. I’m glad I chose mediocrity, but how am I to say what reward might have come with the other?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Steinbeck" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness-adam-said-i-don-t-think-so/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/571/john-steinbeck-71_learning_i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness_16076.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/571/john-steinbeck-71_learning_i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness_16076.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/571/john-steinbeck-71_learning_i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness_16076.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I’d think there are degrees of greatness,” Adam said. “I don’t think so,” said Samuel. “That would be like…” — John Steinbeck", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Adam seemed clothed in a viscosity that slowed his movements and held his thoughts down. He saw the world through gray water. Now and then his mind fought its way upward, and when the light broke in it brought him only sickness of the mind, and he retired into the grayness again.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Steinbeck" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/adam-seemed-clothed-in-a-viscosity-that-slowed-his-movements-and-held/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/john-steinbeck-71_psychology_adam-seemed-clothed-in-a-viscosity-that_1599840.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/john-steinbeck-71_psychology_adam-seemed-clothed-in-a-viscosity-that_1599840.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/john-steinbeck-71_psychology_adam-seemed-clothed-in-a-viscosity-that_1599840.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Adam seemed clothed in a viscosity that slowed his movements and held his thoughts down. He saw the world…” — John Steinbeck", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Adam found his father out. It wasn’t that his father changed but that some new quality came to Adam. He had always hated the discipline, as every normal animal does, but it was just and true and inevitable as measles, not to be denied or cursed, only to be hated. And then–it was very fast, almost a click in the brain–Adam knew that, for him at least, his father’s methods had no reference to anything in the world except his father. The techniques and training were not designed for the boys at all but only to make Cyrus a great man. And the same click in the brain told Adam that his father was not a great man, that he was, indeed, a very strong-willed and concentrated little man wearing a huge busby. Who knows what causes this–a look in the eye, a lie found out, a moment of hesitation?–then god comes crashing down in a child’s brain.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Steinbeck" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/adam-found-his-father-out-it-wasn-t-that-his-father-changed-but-that/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbc/john-steinbeck-71_little-man_adam-found-his-father-out-it-wasn-t-that_1670098.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbc/john-steinbeck-71_little-man_adam-found-his-father-out-it-wasn-t-that_1670098.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbc/john-steinbeck-71_little-man_adam-found-his-father-out-it-wasn-t-that_1670098.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Adam found his father out. It wasn’t that his father changed but that some new quality came to Adam. He had…” — John Steinbeck", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Adam wet his dry lips and tried to ask and failed and tried again. \"Why do they have to do it?\" he said. \"Why is it?\" Cyrus was deeply moved and he spoke as he had never spoken before. \"I don't know,\" he said. \"I've studied and maybe learned how things are, but I\"m not even close to why they are. And you must not expect to find that people understand what they do. So many things are done instinctively, the way a bee makes honey or a fox dips his paws into a stream to fool dogs. A fox can't say why he does it, and what bee remembers winter or expects it to come again? When I knew you had to go I thought to leave the future open so you could dig out your own findings, and then it seemed better if I could protect you with the little I know. You'll go in soon now--you've come to the age.\" \"I don't want to,\" said Adam quickly. \"You'll go in soon,\" his father went on, not hearing. \"And I want to tell you so you won't be surprised. They'll first strip off your clothes, but they'll go deeper than that. They'll shuck off any little dignity you have--you'll lose what you think of as your decent right to live and be let alone to live. They'll make you live and eat and sleep and shit close to other men. And when they dress you up again you'll not be able to tell yourself from the others. You can't even wear a scrap or pin a note on your breast to say, 'This is me--separate from the rest.'\" \"I don't want to do it,\" said Adam. \"After a while,\" said Cyrus, \"you'll think no thought the others do not think. You'll know no word the others can't say. And you'll do things because the others do them. You'll feel the danger in any difference whatever-- a danger to the whole crowd of like-thinking, like-acting men.\" \"What if I don't?\" Adam demanded. \"Yes,\" said Cyrus, \"sometimes that happens. Once in a while there is a man who won't do what is demanded of him, and do you know what happens? The whole machine devotes itself coldly to the destruction of his difference. They'll beat your spirit and your nerves, your body and your mind, with iron rods until the dangerous difference goes out of you. And if you can't finally give in, they'll vomit you up and leave you stinking outside--neither part of themselves nor yet free. It's better to fall in with them. They only do it to protect themselves [...]”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Steinbeck" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/adam-wet-his-dry-lips-and-tried-to-ask-and-failed-and-tried-again-why/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/john-steinbeck-71_dry-lips_adam-wet-his-dry-lips-and-tried-to-ask-a_357012.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/john-steinbeck-71_dry-lips_adam-wet-his-dry-lips-and-tried-to-ask-a_357012.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/john-steinbeck-71_dry-lips_adam-wet-his-dry-lips-and-tried-to-ask-a_357012.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Adam wet his dry lips and tried to ask and failed and tried again. \"Why do they have to do it?\" he said…” — John Steinbeck", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adam/john-steinbeck/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adam/john-steinbeck/", "name": "Adam Quotes by John Steinbeck", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adam/john-steinbeck/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/john-steinbeck-71_memory_you-re-too-young-a-man-to-be-panning-mem_1408485.jpg" }, "description": "11 Adam quotes by John Steinbeck. 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