1,374 Quotes by John Steinbeck

If a man ordered a beer milkshake he'd better do it in a town where he wasn't known.

Por el grosor del polvo en los libros de una biblioteca pública puede medirse la cultura de un pueblo.

Perhaps the less we have, the more we are required to brag.

We're a violent people, Cal. Does it seem strange to you that I include myself? Maybe it's true, that we are all descendants of the restless, the nervous, the criminals, the arguers, and brawlers. But also the brave, and independent, and generous. If our ancestors hadn't been that, they would've stayed in their home plots in the other world and starved over the squeezed-out soil.

With all the polls and opinions posts, with newspapers more opinion than news so that we no longer know one from the other....

Adam went on, “Every morning in the army that damned bugle would sound. And I swore to God if I ever got out I would sleep till noon every day. And here I get up a half-hour before reveille. Will you tell me, Charles, what in hell we’re working for?”“You can’t lay in bed and run a farm,” said Charles. He stirred the hissing bacon around with a fork.

A farmer cannot think too much evil of a good farmer.

We have never understood why men mount the heads of animals and hang them up to look down on their conquerors. Possibly it feels good to these men to be superior to animals, but it does seem that if they were sure of it they would not have to prove it. Often a man who is afraid must constantly demonstrate his courage and, in the case of the hunter, must keep a tangible record of his courage.

In all the mad incongruity, the turgid stultiloquy of life, I felt, at least, securely anchored to myself. Whatever the vacillations of other people, I thought myself terrifically constant. But now, here I am, dragging a frayed line, and my anchor gone.