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 she knew she could help him best by being silent and by being near John Steinbeck silent helping It is not good to want a thing too much. It sometimes drives the luck away. You must want it just enough, and you must be very tactful with Gods or the gods. John Steinbeck too-much luck want It's almost impossible to read a fine thing without wanting to do a fine thing. John Steinbeck fine-things fine impossible We have not known a single great scientist who could not discourse freely and interestingly with a child. Can it be that haters of clarity have nothing to say, have observed nothing, have no clear picture of even their own fields? John Steinbeck fields science children I think of my life as a kind of music, not always good music but still having form and melody. John Steinbeck kind life thinking With knowledge there is no hope,... without hope I would sit motionless, rusting like unused armor. John Steinbeck without-hope no-hope armor All of them had a restlessness in common. John Steinbeck restlessness common The first grave. Now we're getting someplace. Houses and children and graves, that's home, Tom. Those are the things that hold a man down. John Steinbeck home men children Texas is not a state - it's a state of mind. John Steinbeck texas states mind The literature of science is filled with answers found when the question propounded had an entirely different direction and end. John Steinbeck differences different science It isn't like the rest of the country - it is like a nation itself - more tolerant than the rest in a curious way. Littleness gets swallowed up here. All the viciousness that makes other cities vicious is sucked up and absorbed in New York. John Steinbeck cities new-york country No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe John Steinbeck silence feelings tree I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. John Steinbeck texas mind thinking Some days are born ugly. From the very first light they are no damn good what ever the weather, and everbody knows it. No one knows what causes this, but on such a day people resist getting out of bed and set their heels against the day. When they are finally forced out by hunger or job they find that the day is just as lousy as they knew it would be. John Steinbeck light weather jobs Time is more complex near the sea than in any other place, for in addition to the circling of the sun and the turning of the seasons, the waves beat out the passage of time on the rocks and the tides rise and fall as a great clepsydra. John Steinbeck rocks sea fall I wrote The Grapes of Wrath in one hundred days, but many years of preparation preceded it. John Steinbeck wrath preparation years Some people there are who, being grown; forget the horrible task of learning to read. It is perhaps the greatest single effort that the human undertakes, and he must do it as a child. John Steinbeck effort children people In nature two things do not occur-the wheel and good taste. John Steinbeck nature taste two New York is a wonderful city... It is going to be the capital of the world. John Steinbeck cities new-york world Thou mayest rule over sin. John Steinbeck sin
