1,374 Quotes by John Steinbeck

We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.

Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard.

The new American finds his challenge and his love in the traffic-choked streets, skies nested in smog, choking with the acids of industry, the screech of rubber and houses leashed in against one another while the town lets wither a time and die.

A town is a thing like a colonial animal. A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet. A town is a thing separate from all other towns alike. And a town has a whole emotion. How news travels through a town is a mystery not easily to be solved. News seems to move faster than small boys can scramble and dart to tell it, faster than women can call it over the fences.

Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.

The final weapon is the brain, all else is supplemental.

These words dropped into my childish mind as if you should accidentally drop a ring into a deep well. I did not think of them much at the time, but there came a day in my life when the ring was fished up out of the well, good as new.

Do you take pride in your hurt? Does it make you seem large and tragic? ...Well, think about it. Maybe you're playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience.

We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.