--- title: "4 Middle age Quotes By John Steinbeck" description: "4 Middle age quotes by John Steinbeck. Plus more from John Steinbeck and more Middle age sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/john-steinbeck-71_age_when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be_892988.jpg" --- > [When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be-someplace-else-was-on-me-i/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/john-steinbeck-71_age_when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be_892988.jpg) > [“When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be-someplace-else-was-on-me-i-2/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/john-steinbeck-71_aging_when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be_1247010.jpg) > [When I was very young and the urge to be someplace was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be-someplace-was-on-me-i-was-2/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8c/john-steinbeck-71_age_when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be_1661160.jpg) > [“When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be-someplace-else-was-on-me-i-3/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f4/john-steinbeck-71_aging_when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be_1858085.jpg) ## Other authors on Middle age - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b017/author-mason-cooley-65303.jpg) Mason Cooley 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-age/mason-cooley/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b015/author-laurence-j-peter-58961.jpg) Laurence J. Peter 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-age/laurence-j-peter/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-ogden-nash-72313.jpg) Ogden Nash 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-age/ogden-nash/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-jeffrey-eugenides-48469.jpg) Jeffrey Eugenides 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-age/jeffrey-eugenides/) ## 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… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-the-arts-since-the-medium-is/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [Prayer never brought in no side-meat. Takes a shoat to bring in pork.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/prayer-never-brought-in-no-side-meat-takes-a-shoat-to-bring-in-pork/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“And now submarines are armed with mass murder, our silly, only way of deterring mass murder.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/and-now-submarines-are-armed-with-mass-murder-our-silly-only-way-of/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness-adam-said-i-don-t-think-so/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“He was forever inventing a new way of doing an old thing and doing it better and quicker, but he never in his whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/he-was-forever-inventing-a-new-way-of-doing-an-old-thing-and-doing-it/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“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.”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/you-come-back-a-changed-man-samuel-you-don-t-change-him-he-changes/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I find out of long experience that I admire all nations and hate all governments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-find-out-of-long-experience-that-i-admire-all-nations-and-hate-all/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/at-about-10-o-clock-in-the-morning-the-sun-threw-a-bright-dust-laden/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I have noticed that there is no dissatisfaction like that of the rich. Feed a man, clothe him, put him in a good house,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-have-noticed-that-there-is-no-dissatisfaction-like-that-of-the-rich/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“Who in his mind has not probe the dark water?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/who-in-his-mind-has-not-probe-the-dark-water/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/sometimes-a-lie-is-told-in-kindness-i-don-t-believe-it-ever-works/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [People like you to be something, preferably what they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/people-like-you-to-be-something-preferably-what-they-are/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“Suddenly he knew joy and sorrow felted into one fabric. Courage and fear were one thing too. He found that he had started to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/suddenly-he-knew-joy-and-sorrow-felted-into-one-fabric-courage-and/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I am writing this from what we Americans call Yurrp. In Yurrp writers are taken as seriously as Lana Turner's legs are in America…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-am-writing-this-from-what-we-americans-call-yurrp-in-yurrp-writers/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I write because I like to write. I find joy in the texture and tone and rhythm of words. It is a satisfaction like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-write-because-i-like-to-write-i-find-joy-in-the-texture-and-tone/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-age/john-steinbeck/#itemlist", "name": "4 Middle age Quotes By John Steinbeck", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. 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When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ships's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, I don't improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself. When the virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayward man, and the road away from Here seems broad and straight and sweet, the victim must first find in himself a good and sufficient reason for going. This to the practical bum is not difficult. He has a built-in garden of reasons to chose from. Next he must plan his trip in time and space, choose a direction and a destination. And last he must implement the journey. How to go, what to take, how long to stay. This part of the process is invariable and immortal. I set it down only so that newcomers to bumdom, like teen-agers in new-hatched sin, will not think they invented it. Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules, reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the glass bum relax and go along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Steinbeck" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be-someplace-else-was-on-me-i-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/john-steinbeck-71_aging_when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be_1247010.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/john-steinbeck-71_aging_when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be_1247010.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f6/john-steinbeck-71_aging_when-i-was-very-young-and-the-urge-to-be_1247010.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that…” — John Steinbeck", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When I was very young and the urge to be someplace was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. 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When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age.In middle age I was assured greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ships's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, once a bum always a bum. I fear this disease incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself…A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. 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