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
“I've heard two ways of looking at it. One says the silent man is the wise man & the other that a… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“First we find a buried star and now we go to dig up a mint-new human” — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
There's a capacity for appetite... that a whole heaven and earth of cake can't satisfy — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
This I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
I think the difference between a lie and a story is that a story utilizes the trappings and appearance of truth for… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“It's because I haven't courage,' said Samuel. 'I could never quite take the responsibility. When the Lord God did not call my… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“But some men are friends with the whole world in their hearts, and there are others that hate themselves and spread their… — 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
A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean question:… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“And I here make a rule-a great and lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
There is one sure thing about the fall of gods: they do not fall a little; they crash and shatter. — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber.… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“And I feel that I am a man. And I feel that a man is a very important thing - maybe more… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“It is easy, out of laziness, out of weakness, to throw oneself into the lap of deity, saying, 'I couldn't help it;… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“Tom , the third son, was most like his father. He was born in fury and he lived in lightning.Tom came headlong… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
I think of my life as a kind of music, not always good music but still having form and melody. — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
“Tom felt his darkness. His father was beautiful and clever, his mother was short and mathematically sure. Each of his brothers and… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for that is one thing… — John Steinbeck Copy Share Image
This I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. — 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
