187 quotes
No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable.
Journal of a Novel (1969)
Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone.
East of Eden (1952)
Good God, what a mess of draggle-tail impulses a man is — and a woman too, I guess.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man.
East of Eden (1952)
A good writer always works at the impossible.
Journal of a Novel (1969)
No one wants advice — only corroboration.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
There is a strange duality in the human which makes for an ethical paradox.
The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951)
One man was so mad at me that he ended his letter: “Beware. You will never get out of this world alive.”
A little hope, even hopeless hope, never hurt anybody.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
There's nobody as lonely as an all-married man.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.
East of Eden (1952)
It is the duty of the writer to lift up, to extend, to encourage.
Journal of a Novel (1969)
If the glory can be killed, we are lost.
East of Eden (1952)
He brought his malformed wisdom, his pool-hall, locker-room, joke-book wisdom to the front.
Burning Bright (1950)
Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each other on their way to the throne of God.
Tortilla Flat (1935)
If two generous paths branch from the highroad of life and only one can be followed, who is to judge which is best?
Tortilla Flat (1935)
"Woman and women is two different things," said Suzy. "Guy knows all about women, he don't know nothing about a woman."
Sweet Thursday (1954)
Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head.
Of Mice and Men (1937)
My dreams are the problems of the day stepped up to absurdity, a little like men dancing, wearing the horns and masks of animals.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)