John Steinbeck's best quotes
The top 3 according to 5 votes from people: Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone. · Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. · Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts, perhaps fear of a loss of power.. (Updated Jul 2, 2023.)
From Of Mice and Men and East of Eden to The Winter of Our Discontent and his letters and interviews: John Steinbeck's most quoted lines, with where they come from.
Top 12
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1
Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone.
East of Eden (1952).
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2
Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man.
East of Eden (1952).
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3
Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts, perhaps fear of a loss of power.
The Short Reign of Pippin IV (1957).
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4
No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961).
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5
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
Interview with Robert van Gelder, 1947.
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6
Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head.
Of Mice and Men (1937), Crooks.
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7
A problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
Sweet Thursday (1954).
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8
No one wants advice — only corroboration.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961).
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9
To be alive at all is to have scars.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961).
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10
We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome.
'In Awe of Words', The Exonian (1930).
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11
The profession of book-writing makes horse-racing seem like a solid, stable business.
Newsweek, 24 December 1962.
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12
Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard.
Quoted by John Kenneth Galbraith in The Affluent Society (1977 edition).
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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