John Steinbeck Quotes

Most popular John Steinbeck Quotes

No one wants advice, only corroboration. - John Steinbeck quote.
No one wants advice, only corroboration.
— John Steinbeck

advice

Time is the only critic without ambition. - John Steinbeck quote.
Time is the only critic without ambition.
— John Steinbeck in The Paris Review

time

A question is a trap, and an answer your foot in it. - John Steinbeck quote.
A question is a trap, and an answer your foot in it.
— John Steinbeck Travels with Charley

asking questions

All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal. - John Steinbeck quote.
All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal.
— John Steinbeck Once There Was a War

war

There are no ugly questions except those clothed in condescension. - John Steinbeck quote.
There are no ugly questions except those clothed in condescension.
— John Steinbeck East of Eden

asking questions

We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it. - John Steinbeck quote.
We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.
— John Steinbeck America and Americans

human nature

An answer is invariably the parent of a great family of new questions. - John Steinbeck quote.
An answer is invariably the parent of a great family of new questions.
— John Steinbeck Log From the Sea of Cortez

asking questions answers

I hate cameras.  They are so much more sure than I am about everything. - John Steinbeck quote.
I hate cameras.  They are so much more sure than I am about everything.
— John Steinbeck Steinbeck: A Life in Letters

camera

A book is like a man—clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. - John Steinbeck quote.
A book is like a man—clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly.
— John Steinbeck in The Paris Review

books

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

human nature

It is the nature of a man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him. - John Steinbeck quote.
It is the nature of a man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.
— John Steinbeck
A man on a horse is spiritually as well as physically bigger than a man on foot. - John Steinbeck quote.
A man on a horse is spiritually as well as physically bigger than a man on foot.
— John Steinbeck The Red Pony

horses

A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. - John Steinbeck quote.
A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.
— John Steinbeck

Travel

The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business. - John Steinbeck quote.
The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.
— John Steinbeck
People need responsibility. They resist assuming it, but they cannot get along without it. - John Steinbeck quote.
People need responsibility. They resist assuming it, but they cannot get along without it.
— John Steinbeck in Saturday Review

responsibility

I guess a man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, and then steps in it. - John Steinbeck quote.
I guess a man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, and then steps in it.

mankind man the animal

I dislike helplessness in other people and in myself, and this is by far my greatest fear of illness. - John Steinbeck quote.
I dislike helplessness in other people and in myself, and this is by far my greatest fear of illness.
— John Steinbeck Steinbeck: a Life in Letters

illness

One man was so mad at me that he ended his letter: 'Beware. You will never get out of this world alive. - John Steinbeck quote.
One man was so mad at me that he ended his letter: 'Beware. You will never get out of this world alive.
— John Steinbeck

anger

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. - John Steinbeck quote.
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
— John Steinbeck

ideas

No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself. - John Steinbeck quote.
No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.
— John Steinbeck The Winter of Our Discontent

understanding others

It is the nature of a man as he grows older, a small bridge in time, to protest against change, particularly change for the better. - John Steinbeck quote.
It is the nature of a man as he grows older, a small bridge in time, to protest against change, particularly change for the better.
— John Steinbeck Travels With Charley: In Search of America

protest change

It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it. - John Steinbeck quote.
It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.

committees sleep problem-solving

Some are destroyed by defeat, and some made small and mean by victory.  Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory. - John Steinbeck quote.
Some are destroyed by defeat, and some made small and mean by victory.  Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory.
— John Steinbeck The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

greatness victory & defeat

Looking back, you can usually find the moment of the birth of a new era, whereas, when it happened, it was one day hooked on to the tail of another. - John Steinbeck quote.
Looking back, you can usually find the moment of the birth of a new era, whereas, when it happened, it was one day hooked on to the tail of another.
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true. - John Steinbeck quote.
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.
— John Steinbeck

writing advice

Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass. - John Steinbeck quote.
Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.

change

Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. - John Steinbeck quote.
Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
— John Steinbeck

mankind

Harsh voiced and nasal, his guitar hanging like a tire iron on a rusty rim, there is nothing sweet about Woody, and there is nothing sweet about the songs he sings. - John Steinbeck quote.
Harsh voiced and nasal, his guitar hanging like a tire iron on a rusty rim, there is nothing sweet about Woody, and there is nothing sweet about the songs he sings.
— John Steinbeck Hard-Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People

musicians

If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe that can be passed from one person to another. - John Steinbeck quote.
If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe that can be passed from one person to another.
— John Steinbeck in The Paris Review

stories

And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way. - John Steinbeck quote.
And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.
— John Steinbeck East of Eden

years

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. - John Steinbeck quote.
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.
— John Steinbeck

self-pity

A writer lives in awe of words for they can be cruel or kind, and they can change their meanings right in front of you. They pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator. - John Steinbeck quote.
A writer lives in awe of words for they can be cruel or kind, and they can change their meanings right in front of you. They pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator.
— John Steinbeck The Exonian

words

A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals.  He isn't telling or teaching or ordering.  Rather he seeks to establish a relationship of meaning, of feeling, of observing. - John Steinbeck quote.
A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals.  He isn't telling or teaching or ordering.  Rather he seeks to establish a relationship of meaning, of feeling, of observing.
— John Steinbeck The Exonian

writers communication

A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid anymore. - John Steinbeck quote.
A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid anymore.
— John Steinbeck East of Eden

romantic

I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment. - John Steinbeck quote.
I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment.
— John Steinbeck

personal

No one wants advice—only corroboration.
— John Steinbeck The Winter of Our Discontent

advice

The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.
— John Steinbeck

writing

The profession of book-writing makes horse-racing seem like a solid, stable business.
— John Steinbeck in Newsweek

books publishing writing