Life Quotes by John Steinbeck

American married life is the doormat to the whorehouse.

— John Steinbeck

People do not want advice - they want corroboration.

— John Steinbeck

Muscles aching to work, minds aching to create - this is man.

— John Steinbeck

life passes by in a wink so try to never miss a moment of it

— John Steinbeck

I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen.

— John Steinbeck

“Can a man think out his life, or must he just tag along?”

— John Steinbeck

Only mediocrity escapes criticism.

— John Steinbeck

A man without words is a man without thought.

— John Steinbeck

It’s a hard thing to leave any deeply routine life, even if you hate it.

— John Steinbeck

“Woman can change better'n a man," Ma said soothingly. "Woman got all her life in her arms. Man got it all in…

— John Steinbeck

I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs…

— John Steinbeck

“Nobody has the right to remove any single experience from another. Life and death are promised. We have a right to pain.”

— John Steinbeck

He said, "I am a man," and that meant certain things to Juana. It meant that he was half insane and half…

— John Steinbeck

It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.

— John Steinbeck

We are lonesome animals. We spend all life trying to be less lonesome.

— John Steinbeck

“I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir, but I do have a choice of how I do it.”

— John Steinbeck

A kind of second childhood falls on so many men. They trade their violence for the promise of a small increase of…

— John Steinbeck

“In all the mad incongruity, the turgid stultiloquy of life, I felt, at least, securely anchored to myself. Whatever the vacillations of…

— John Steinbeck

“After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he…

— John Steinbeck

“He was forever inventing a new way of doing an old thing and doing it better and quicker, but he never in…

— John Steinbeck

“Casy said solemnly, "This here ol' man jus' lived a life an' just died out of it. I don't know whether he…

— 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

“You got to have patience. Why, Tom—us people will go on livin’ when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we’re the…

— John Steinbeck

But you must give him some sign, some sign that you love him... or he'll never be a man. All his life…

— John Steinbeck

“Ain't you thinkin' what's it gonna be like when we get there? Ain't you scared it won't be nice like we thought?…

— John Steinbeck

“Only once or twice in her life had she ever understood all of him, but the part of him which she knew,…

— John Steinbeck

Life cannot be cut off quickly. One cannot be dead until the things he changed are dead. His effect is the only…

— John Steinbeck

“One day Samuel strained his back lifting a bale of hay, and it hurt his feelings more than his back, for he…

— John Steinbeck

“I know this - a man got to do what he got to do, I can't tell you. I don't think they's…

— John Steinbeck

“Tom , the third son, was most like his father. He was born in fury and he lived in lightning.Tom came headlong…

— John Steinbeck

There is more beauty in truth, even if it is a dreadful beauty. The storytellers at the city gate twist life so…

— John Steinbeck

You are not a man anymore. You are a soldier. Your comfort is of no importance and your life isn't of much…

— John Steinbeck

“Now discontent nibbled at him - not painfully, but constantly. Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You…

— John Steinbeck

“Humans are caught -- in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in…

— John Steinbeck

He was born in fury and he lived in lightning. Tom came headlong into life. He was a giant in joy and…

— John Steinbeck

“We sat on a crate of oranges and thought what good men most biologists are, the tenors of the scientific world--temperamental, moody,…

— John Steinbeck

“The Mayor spoke proudly. 'Yes, they will light it. I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir, but—I do…

— John Steinbeck

“Old Sam Hamilton saw this coming. He said there couldn’t be any more universal philosophers. The weight of knowledge is too great…

— John Steinbeck

“A kind of second childhood falls on so many men. They trade their violence for the promise of a small increase of…

— John Steinbeck

“Pa said, "Won't you say a few words? Ain't none of our folks ever been buried without a few words." Connie led…

— John Steinbeck