I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied. — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of a human need for it, and it has not changed except to… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“Some day, his mind said, that boy would know what things were in the books and what things were not.” — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
I think today if we forbade our illiterate children to touch the wonderful things of our literature, perhaps they might steal them… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“We have only one story. All novels, all poetry are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil.” — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“And in his dream, Coyotito was reading from a book as large as a house, with letters as big as dogs, and… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
Your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person-a real person you know,… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“The house was clean, scrubbed and immaculate, curtains washed, windows polished, but all as a man does it - the ironed curtains… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
A book is like a man - clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
...Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among ideas the way a man rides white rapids in… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
I have taken as much as six years to prepare a book for writing. There is such a delirium of effort in… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain and if you don't believe… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“Literature is not a game for the cloistered elect. Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
They must be real people. And this means that every word in every line of speech must be accurate and full of… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven,… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
Literature was not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches - nor is it a… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“If I could do this book properly it would be one of the really fine books and a truly American book. But… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
The design of a book is the pattern of a reality controlled and shaped by the mind of the writer. This is… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“Your days are like pages, the chapters unread. You have to keep turning your book has no end.” — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
The curious hocus-pocus of criticism I can't take seriously. It consists in squirreling up some odd phrases and then waiting for a… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
We only have one story. All novels, all poetry are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
“I intended to make it sound guileless and rather sweet but you will see in it the little blades of social criticism… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
The basic rule [of writing] given us was simple and heartbreaking. A story to be effective had to convey something from the… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
I don't think there is a single sentence in this whole book [East of Eden] that does not either develop character, carry… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
Literature was not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches, nor is it a game… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
Boileau said that Kings, Gods and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires.… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved.… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
It is customary for the recipient of this award to offer personal or scholarly comment on the nature and the direction of… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
The design of a book is the pattern of a reality controlled and shaped by the mind of a writer. — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
The literature of science is filled with answers found when the question propounded had an entirely different direction and end. — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“Critics are the eunuchs of literature. They stand by in envious awe while the whole man and his partner demonstrate the art… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business. — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three [great teachers] did not… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
Prayer never brought in no side-meat. Takes a shoat to bring in pork. — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“And now submarines are armed with mass murder, our silly, only way of deterring mass murder.” — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“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… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“He was forever inventing a new way of doing an old thing and doing it better and quicker, but he never in his whole… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“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.”… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
I find out of long experience that I admire all nations and hate all governments — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
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… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
I have noticed that there is no dissatisfaction like that of the rich. Feed a man, clothe him, put him in a good house,… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
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… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
![“The basic rule [of writing] given us was simple and heartbreaking. A story to be effective had to convey something from the writer to the reader, and the power of its offering was the measure of its excellence. Outside of that, there were no rules.” quote by John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e12/john-steinbeck-71_books_the-basic-rule-of-writing-given-us-was-s_1266697.jpg)
![“I don't think there is a single sentence in this whole book [East of Eden] that does not either develop character, carry on the story or provide necessary background.” quote by John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/281/john-steinbeck-71_backgrounds_i-don-t-think-there-is-a-single-sentence_137884.jpg)
![“Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three [great teachers] did not tell - they catalyzed a burning desire to know. Under their influence, the horizons sprung wide and fear went away and the unknown became knowable. But most important of…” quote by John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/84c/john-steinbeck-71_art_teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-t_1738.jpg)
