Inspirational Quotes by John Steinbeck

A fallow field is a sin.

— John Steinbeck

A Texan outside of Texas is a foreigner.

— John Steinbeck

Only mediocrity escapes criticism.

— John Steinbeck

Nearly everyone has his box of secret pain ...

— John Steinbeck

But a man needs company.

— John Steinbeck

Saints can spring from any soil.

— John Steinbeck

A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.

— John Steinbeck

Thou mayest rule over sin.

— John Steinbeck

He is so stupid you can't trust him with an idea.

— John Steinbeck

There is nothing pleasanter than spading when the ground is soft and damp.

— John Steinbeck

For many years we have suckled on fear and fear alone, and there is no good product of fear.

— John Steinbeck

Must hunger become anger and anger fury before anything will be done?

— John Steinbeck

Best thing is to get the words down every day. And it is time to start now.

— John Steinbeck

What hidden, hoarded longings there are in all of us.

— John Steinbeck

I nearly always write just as I nearly always breathe. - John Steinbeck

— John Steinbeck

But you can't start over Only a boy can start over You and me Why, we're all that's been

— John Steinbeck

“Thy life is not thine own to govern, Danny, for it controls other lives. See how thy friends suffer! Spring to life,…

— John Steinbeck

“At such a time it seems natural and good to me to ask myself these questions. What do I believe in? What…

— John Steinbeck

“A dying organism is often observed to be capable of extraordinary endurance and strength. ... When any living organism is attacked, its…

— John Steinbeck

Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you…

— John Steinbeck

Ever'body's askin' that. "What we comin' to?" Seems to me we don't never come to nothin'. Always on the way.

— John Steinbeck

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

— John Steinbeck

“There are times that one treasures for all one's life, and such times are burned clearly and sharply on the material of…

— John Steinbeck

“In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved.…

— John Steinbeck

“Sure, cried the tenant men, but it's our land. We measured it and broke it up. We were born on it, and…

— John Steinbeck

And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And…

— John Steinbeck

“Ma Joad: How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? Why they could kill ya and I'd never know. They could hurt…

— John Steinbeck

“Ad astra per alia porci”

— John Steinbeck

There is comfort in routine.

— John Steinbeck

It don't cost money to ask.

— John Steinbeck

... a man is a very important thing-maybe more important than a star.

— John Steinbeck

(Suicide) takes some doing, with maybe pain and maybe hell.

— John Steinbeck

Only let a man say that he will do something and a whole mechanism goes to work to stop him.

— John Steinbeck

Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America.

— John Steinbeck

One must withdraw for a time from life in order to set down that picture.

— John Steinbeck

Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish.

— John Steinbeck

My whole work drive has been aimed at making people understand each other. . .

— John Steinbeck

This I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.

— John Steinbeck

We have to make a mark, even if it's only a scribble.

— John Steinbeck

“Muscles aching to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need-this is man.”

— John Steinbeck