Well, every little boy thinks he invented sin. Virtue we think we learn, because we are told about it. But sin is our own designing. John Steinbeck More Quotes by John Steinbeck More Quotes From John Steinbeck I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir--but I do have a choice of how I do it. If I tell them not to fight, they will be sorry, but they will fight. If I tell them to fight, they will be glad, and I who am not a very brave man will have made them a little braver. John Steinbeck fighting sorry men Maybe it's true that we are all descended from the restless, the nervous, the criminals, the arguers and brawlers, but also the brave and independent and generous. If our ancestors had not been that, they would have stayed in their home plots in the other world and starved over the squeezed-out soil. John Steinbeck other-worlds independent home I think bullfights are for men who aren't very brave and wish they were. John Steinbeck brave men thinking It is customary for the recipient of this award to offer personal or scholarly comment on the nature and the direction of literature. At this particular time, however, I think it would be well to consider the high duties and the responsibilities of the makers of literature. John Steinbeck awards responsibility thinking You got a God. Don't make no difference if you don' know what he looks like. John Steinbeck differences ifs looks A day, a livelong day, is not one thing but many. It changes not only in growing light toward zenith and decline again, but in texture and mood, in tone and meaning, warped by a thousand factors of season, of heat or cold, of still or multi winds, torqued by odors, tastes, and the fabrics of ice or grass, of bud or leaf or black-drawn naked limbs. And as a day changes so do its subjects, bugs and birds, cates, dogs, butterflies and people. John Steinbeck butterfly light dog I think today if we forbade our illiterate children to touch the wonderful things of our literature, perhaps they might steal them and find secret joy. John Steinbeck joy children thinking You're buying years of work, toil in the sun; you're buying a sorrow that can't talk. John Steinbeck toil sorrow years Men who have created new fruits in the world cannot create a system whereby those fruits may be eaten. John Steinbeck may men world We don't take a trip. A trip takes us. John Steinbeck journey struggle travel Strength and success - they are above morality, above criticism. It seems, then, that it is not what you do, but how you do it and what you call it. Is there a check in men, deep in them, that stops or punishes? There doesn't seem to be. The only punishment is for failure. In effect no crime is committed unless a criminal is caught. John Steinbeck criticism inspirational men The words are meaningless except in terms of feeling. Does anyone act as the result of thought or does feeling stimulate action and sometimes thought implement it. John Steinbeck action doe feelings And then we take a soldier and put murder in his hands and we say to him, "Use it well, use it wisely. John Steinbeck eden soldier hands We gather our arms full of guilt as though it were precious stuff. It must be that we want it that way. John Steinbeck arms guilt want There's a capacity for appetite... that a whole heaven and earth of cake can't satisfy John Steinbeck cake earth heaven The sale of souls to gain the whole world is completely voluntary and almost unanimous...but not quite. John Steinbeck gains soul world American cities are like badger holes, ringed with trash--all of them--surrounded by piles of wrecked and rusting automobiles, and almost smothered in rubbish. Everything we use comes in boxes, cartons, bins, the so-called packaging we love so much. The mountain of things we throw away are much greater than the things we use. John Steinbeck mountain cities use Fearful and unprepared, we have assumed lordship over the life or death of the whole world, of all living things. John Steinbeck life-or-death lordship world I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless. John Steinbeck mental-illness self depression In my heart there may be doubt that I deserve the Nobel award over other men of letters whom I hold in respect and reverence, but there is no question of my pleasure and pride in having it for myself. John Steinbeck pride heart men
