20 Quotes We Love From John Steinbeck Books

Author John Steinbeck was born 120 years ago! Here are 20 quotes from some of his most well-known works.

Book Culture Classics Favorite Quotes

Here are twenty John Steinbeck quotes you’ll llove from several of his esteemed books

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” 

East of Eden

“I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructible.”  East of Eden

“Please try not to need me. That’s the worst bait of all to a lonely man.” East of Eden

“I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.” The Winter of Our Discontent

“To be alive at all is to have scars. ” The Winter of Our Discontent

“I shall revenge myself in the cruelest way you can imagine. I shall forget it.” The Winter of Our Discontent

“Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” Of Mice and Men

“But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. East of Eden

“How can we live without our lives? How will we know it’s us without our past?” The Grapes of Wrath

“I nearly always write just as I nearly always breathe.” The Grapes of Wrath

“But better than joy was calm. Imperturbability could be depended upon.” The Grapes of Wrath

“If you’re in trouble or hurt or need–go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help–the only ones.” The Grapes of Wrath

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“There is absolutely nothing to take the place of a good man.” Travels with Charley

“I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless.” Travels with Charley

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” Travels with Charley

“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.” Sweet Thursday

“You are the wisest man alive. You know what is preparing. Why do you not make a plan to save yourself?” And Merlin said quietly, “Because I am wise. In the combat between wisdom and feeling, wisdom never wins.”  The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

“The final weapon is the brain, all else is supplemental.” The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights


“It is not good to want a thing too much. It sometimes drives the luck away. You must want it just enough” The Pearl

“I guess there are never enough books.” A John Steinbeck Encyclopedia

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