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John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck Quotes

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Famous John Steinbeck Quotes

“After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people. This deep desire exists in everyone, from the boy who writes dirty words in a public toilet to the Buddha who etches his image in the race mind. Life is so unreal. I think that we seriously doubt that we exist and go about trying to prove that we do.”

PeopleThinkingMenWantWritingTryingMindLife IsDesireRaceBoysDoubtRecordsProveStonesWoodsProofDirtyToiletsUnrealLives Of OthersDirty WordsReproducingDeep Desire
Book:The Pastures of Heaven
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“A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through their mesh of prejudice, some paint it with their own delight. A story must have some points of contact with the reader to make him feel at home in it. Only then can he accept wonders.”

ThinkingMenWantFeelsStoriesHomeReadingSecretAcceptingWonderReaderPicksPrejudicePaintDelightHearingVersionsContactRejectsStrainMesh
Book:Travels with Charley and Later Novels, 1947-1962
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“Look at them. There are your true philosophers. I think that Mack and the boys know everything that has ever happened in the world and possibly everything that will happen. I think they survive in this particular world better than other people. In a time when people tear themselves to pieces with ambition and nervousness and covetousness, they are relaxed. All of our so-called successful men are sick men, with bad stomachs, and bad souls, but Mack and the boys are healthy and curiously clean. They can do what they want. They can satisfy their appetites without calling them something else.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsMenWorldWantLooksSoulHappensCan DoBoysSuccessfulPiecesHappenedTearsParticularCallingHealthyAmbitionSickCleanPhilosopherAppetiteRelaxedCovetousnessNervousnessSuccessful ManSick ManMack
Author:John Steinbeck
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“In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love. When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror.”

IfsMenWantLifeMatterCertainDiesCuttingInfluenceDyingTalentColdGeniusHorrorNo Matter WhatVicesBe GoodUncertaintyLayersFrailtyUnlovedShort CutsEast Of Eden
Book:East of Eden
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“Why do men like me want sons? he wondered. It must be because they hope in their poor beaten souls that these new men, who are their blood, will do the things they were not strong enough nor wise enough nor brave enough to do. It is rather like another chance at life; like a new bag of coins at a table of luck after your fortune is gone.”

MenWantSoulEnoughStrongChancePoorGoneWiseBloodSonTablesLuckBraveFortuneLike MeBagsBeatenCoinsStrong EnoughAnother ChanceNot StrongNot Strong Enough
Book:Cup of Gold: A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History
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“A woman journalist in England asked me why Americans usually wrote about their childhood and a past that happened only in imagination, why they never wrote about the present. This bothered me until I realized why - that a novelist wants to know how it comes out, that he can't be omnipotent writing a book about the present, particularly this one.”

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Book:Conversations with John Steinbeck
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“I start out to write five days a week, and then it runs to six days and finally seven. Then, eventually, that wave of weariness overwhelms me and I don't know what's the matter. That is, I know but I won't admit it. I'm just tired from writing. As you get older, writing becomes harder. By that I mean you see so many more potentialities. Things like transition used to trouble me. But not any more. When I say it's harder, I'm not talking about facility. You learn all the so-called tricks, but then you don't want to use them.”

KnowsWantWritingMeanMatterUseRunningUsedTalkingFiveTroubleWeekSixHarderTiredSevenWaveTricksTransitionFacilityNot TalkingWeariness
Author:John Steinbeck
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