john steinbeck

“ There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do. ”

“ It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another - but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good. ”

“ I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier? ”

“ I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen. ”

“ If you are in love - thats a good thing - thats about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don't let anyone make it small or light to you. ”

“ I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we live in a Pearl White serial of continuing thought and wonder. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The migrant people, scuttling for work, scrabbling to live, looked always for pleasure, dug for pleasure, manufactured pleasure, and they were hungry for amusement. ”

“ And in the eyes of the people there is a failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage. ”

“ Humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have. ”