Quote: It always seemed strange to me that the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, aquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and selfinterest are the traits of sucess. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it. [John Ernst 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 Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: One can find so many pains when the rain is falling. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased. [John Ernst 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. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: I believe that love cannot be bought except with love. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: Four hoarse blasts of a ship's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: Give a critic an inch, he'll write a play. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: I hate cameras. They are so much more sure than I am about everything. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier? [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: I've lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather than climate. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts. [John Ernst Steinbeck]
Quote: If you're in trouble, or hurt or need - go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help - the only ones. [John Ernst Steinbeck]