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Literature Quotes by John Steinbeck

16 Literature quotes by John Steinbeck

All Literature quotes John Steinbeck’s page

Steinbeck’s love for ordinary lives shines through his thoughts on literature. Sixteen selections reveal a storyteller who values honesty and compassion, making this a modest yet resonant collection for readers who cherish the human side of writing.

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The literature of science is filled with answers found when the question propounded had an entirely different direction and end.

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“Literature is not a game for the cloistered elect. Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for…

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Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of a human need for it, and it has not changed except to…

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“Critics are the eunuchs of literature. They stand by in envious awe while the whole man and his partner demonstrate the art…

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I think today if we forbade our illiterate children to touch the wonderful things of our literature, perhaps they might steal them…

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I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in…

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

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Literature was not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches, nor is it a game…

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“Literature was not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches - nor is it a…

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Boileau said that Kings, Gods and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires.…

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The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for…

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It is customary for the recipient of this award to offer personal or scholarly comment on the nature and the direction of…

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Literature was not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches - nor is it a…

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“The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for…

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“Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for it and it has not changed except to become…

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The story [Henny-Penny] has the best opening in all literature-"The sky is falling," cried Henny-Penny, "and a piece of it fell on…

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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…

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Prayer never brought in no side-meat. Takes a shoat to bring in pork.

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“And now submarines are armed with mass murder, our silly, only way of deterring mass murder.”

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“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…

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

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“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.”…

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I find out of long experience that I admire all nations and hate all governments

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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…

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I have noticed that there is no dissatisfaction like that of the rich. Feed a man, clothe him, put him in a good house,…

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“Who in his mind has not probe the dark water?”

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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…

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People like you to be something, preferably what they are.

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