Quotes from John Steinbeck

It is possible, even probable, to be told a truth about a place, to accept it, to know it and at the same time not to know anything about it.

Niagara Falls is very nice. I'm very glad I saw it, because from now on if I am asked whether I have seen Niagara Falls I can say yes, and be telling the truth for once.

It requires self-esteem to receive-not self-love but just a pleasant acquaintance and liking for oneself.

I think I love you, Cal." -Abra I'm not good." -Cal Because you're not good." -Abra

It would be good to live in a perpetual state of leave-taking, never to go nor to stay, but to remain suspended in that golden emotion of love and longing; to be loved without satiety.

I write because I like to write. I find joy in the texture and tone and rhythm of words. It is a satisfaction like that which follows good and shared love.

If you are in love-that's a good thing-that's about the best thing that can happen to anyone.

Doc still loved true things but he knew that it was not a general love and it could be a very dangerous mistress.

Hate cannot live alone. It must have love as a trigger, a goad or a stimulant

And don't worry about losing. If i is right, it happens - the main thing is not to hurry.Nothing good gets away.

If you're in trouble, or hurt or need - go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help - the only ones.

You know how advice is. You only want it if it agrees with what you wanted to do anyway.

People do not want advice - they want corroboration.

So many old and lovely things are stored in the world's attic because we don't want them around us and we don't dare throw them out.

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.

In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved.

People don't want advice...only corroboration.

With a few exceptions people don't want money. They want luxury and they want love and they want admiration.

One of the laws of paleontology is that an animal which must protect itself with thick armour is degenerate. It is usually a sign that the species is on the road to extinction.

Pictures... are also opinions... [they] set down what the camera operator sees and he sees what he wants to see and what he loves and hates and pities and is proud of.

All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal.

I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger.

Time is the only critic without ambition.

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.