A creative person has to be alive. He can't borrow from things he's done in the past. He can't let his method choose his subjects or his characters. They can't be warped to fit his style. John Steinbeck More Quotes by John Steinbeck More Quotes From John Steinbeck These too are of a burning color--not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies. John Steinbeck orange color gold Boileau said that Kings, Gods and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires. Present-day kings aren't very inspiring, the gods are on a vacation and about the only heroes left are the scientists and the poor. John Steinbeck kings hero writing It is strange how a man believes he can think better in a special place. I have such a place, have always had it, but I know it isn't thinking I do there, but feeling and experiencing and remembering. It's a safety place. Everyone must have one, although I never heard a man tell of it. John Steinbeck men believe thinking Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. John Steinbeck cop guy Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids. John Steinbeck ignorance stupid men She wasn't happy, but then she wasn't unhappy. She wasn't anything. But I don't believe anyone is a nothing. There has to be something inside, if only to keep the skin from collapsing. This vacant eye, listless hand, this damask cheek dusted like a doughnut with plastic powder, had to have a memory or a dream. John Steinbeck dream memories believe We have usurped many of the powers we once ascribed to God. Fearful and unprepared, we have assumed lordship over the life or death of the whole world of all living things. The danger and the glory and the choice rest finally in man. The test of his perfectibility is at hand. Having taken Godlike power, we must seek in ourselves for the responsibility and the wisdom we once prayed some deity might have. John Steinbeck taken responsibility god Evening of a hot day started the little wind to moving among the leaves. The shade climbed up the hills toward the top. On the sand banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little gray, sculptured stones. John Steinbeck rabbits wind moving A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean question: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well - or ill? John Steinbeck integrity character life One can find so many pains when the rain is falling. John Steinbeck pain rain fall Perhaps it takes courage to raise children. John Steinbeck parenting mother children Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard. John Steinbeck unqualified praise giving We could live offa the fatta the lan'. John Steinbeck mice Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there's time, the Bastard Time. John Steinbeck hunger fields doe I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now--only that place where the books are kept. John Steinbeck home mean book Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry n’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there. John Steinbeck wrath fighting kids How can we live without our lives? How will we know it's us without our past? John Steinbeck wrath knows past I know this... a man got to do what he got to do. John Steinbeck wrath knows men One must withdraw for a time from life in order to set down that picture. John Steinbeck order We can shoot rockets into space but we can't cure anger or discontent. John Steinbeck rockets cures space
