Time is the only critic without ambition.
JOHN STEINBECKMaybe the hardest thing in writing is simply to tell the truth about things as we see them.
More John Steinbeck Quotes
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An unbelieved truth can hurt a man much more than a lie. It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There’s a punishment for it, and it’s usually crucifixion.
JOHN STEINBECK -
A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ.
JOHN STEINBECK -
Your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person-a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.
JOHN STEINBECK -
Books are the best friends you can have; they inform you, and entertain you, and they don’t talk back.
JOHN STEINBECK -
I know now why confusion in government is not only tolerated but encouraged. I have learned. Confused people can make no clear demands.
JOHN STEINBECK -
The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.
JOHN STEINBECK -
To finish is sadness to a writer — a little death. He puts the last word down and it is done. But it isn’t really done. The story goes on and leaves the writer behind, for no story is ever done.
JOHN STEINBECK -
Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do, Try to be better than yourself.
JOHN STEINBECK -
I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.
JOHN STEINBECK -
Somewhere in the world there is a defeat for everyone. 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 -
I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.
JOHN STEINBECK -
And, of course, people are interested only in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen.
JOHN STEINBECK -
Perhaps the best conversationalist in the world is the man who helps others to talk.
JOHN STEINBECK -
No one wants advice – only corroboration.
JOHN STEINBECK -
In poverty she is envious. In riches she may be a snob. Money does not change the sickness, only the symptoms.
JOHN STEINBECK -
I like a lot of talk in a book and I don’t like to have nobody tell me what the guy that’s talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks.
JOHN STEINBECK -
An answer is invariably the parent of a whole family of new questions.
JOHN STEINBECK -
Nearly everyone has his box of secret pain.
JOHN STEINBECK -
Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.
JOHN STEINBECK -
Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts, perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
JOHN STEINBECK -
The final weapon is the brain, all else is supplemental.
JOHN STEINBECK -
This I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.
JOHN STEINBECK -
There’s nothing in the world like that first taste of beer.
JOHN STEINBECK -
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 -
I find out of long experience that I admire all nations and hate all governments
JOHN STEINBECK -
If a story is not about the hearer, he will not listen. And here I make a rule—a great and interesting story is about everyone or it will not last.
JOHN STEINBECK