187 quotes
Only God sees the sparrow fall, but even God doesn’t do anything about it.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
For the most part people are not curious except about themselves.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
"Well, that glove's fulla vaseline."
"Vaseline? What the hell for?"
"Well, I tell ya what — Curley says he's keepin' that hand soft for his wife."
Of Mice and Men (1937)
If you want to keep a friend never test him.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
Can you honestly love a dishonest thing?
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
We could live offa the fatta the lan’.
Of Mice and Men (1937)
Luck, you see, brings bitter friends.
The Pearl (1947)
A secret's a terribly lonesome thing.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
To be alive at all is to have scars.
The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
I guess this is why I hate governments. It is always the rule, the fine print, carried out by the fine print men. There's nothing to fight, no wall to hammer with frustrated fists.
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)
When such a viewing-point man thinks of Jesus or St. Augustine or Socrates he regards them with love because they are the symbols of the good he admires, and he hates the symbols of the bad. But actually he would rather be successful than good.
The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951)
We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say — and to feel — "Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought."
Faulkner, more than most men, was aware of human strength as well as of human weakness.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1962)
It was a glorious game. Theft robbed of the stigma of theft, crime altruistically committed—what is more gratifying?
Tortilla Flat (1935)
When I was very young and the urge to be someplace was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch.
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)
I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love.
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)
We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.
Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962)
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.
…like captured fireflies (1955)
Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for it, and it has not changed except to become more needed.
Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1962)