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John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck Quotes

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Famous John Steinbeck Quotes

“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. I fear the disease is incurable.”

PeopleYearsAgeJobsYoungGreaterMiddleTravelDiseaseCalmEightCuresMaturityFiftyUrgesMatureRemedyAssuredMiddle AgesFeverTravel And TourismSenilityTravels With Charley
Book:Travels with Charley in Search of America
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“Some days are born ugly. From the very first light they are no damn good what ever the weather, and everbody knows it. No one knows what causes this, but on such a day people resist getting out of bed and set their heels against the day. When they are finally forced out by hunger or job they find that the day is just as lousy as they knew it would be.”

PeopleKnowsFirstsLightWould BeJobsCausesBornBedHungerUglyWeatherDamnHeelsDamn Good
Book:Sweet Thursday
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“'I know,' said Winter, 'but they don't know.' And he went on with a thought he had been having. 'A time-minded people,' he said, 'and the time is nearly up. They think that just because they have only one leader and one head, we are all like that. They know that ten heads lopped off will destroy them, but we are a free people; we have as many heads as we have people, and in a time of need leaders pop up among us like mushrooms.'”

PeopleThinkingKnowsNeedsSaidLeaderTenWinterPopsMushroomsTime Of Need
Book:The Short Novels of John Steinbeck: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“There used to be a thing or a commodity we put great store by. It was called the People. Find out where the People have gone. I don't mean the square-eyed toothpaste-and-hair-dye people or the new-car-or-bust people, or the success-and-coronary people. Maybe they never existed, but if there ever were the People, that's the commodity the Declaration was talking about, and Mr. Lincoln.”

PeopleIfsMeanUsedTalkingGoneCarHairStoresUsed To BeSquaresCommodityDeclarationNew CarToothpasteHair Dye
Book:Travels with Charley in Search of America
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“But whereas a puppy will cringe away or roll on its back, groveling, a little boy may cover his shyness with nonchalance, with bravado, or with secrecy. And once a boy has suffered rejection, he will find rejection even where it does not exist-or, worse, will draw it forth from people simply by expecting it.”

PeopleMayLittlesDoeBoysDrawsRejectionExpectingSecrecyPuppyLittle BoysShynessCringeBravadoGrovelingNonchalance
Book:East of Eden, And, The Wayward Bus
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