WIST Quotations

Steinbeck, John -- “…like captured fireflies” (1955)

Dave — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:53:35 +0000

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.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
“…like captured fireflies” (1955)

Steinbeck, John -- “A Primer on the 30s” Esquire (1 Jun 1960)

Dave — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 17:51:50 +0000

It was the fixation of businessmen that the W.P.A. did nothing but lean on shovels. I had an uncle who was particularly irritated at shovel-leaning. When he pooh-poohed my contention that shovel leaning was necessary, I bet him five dollars, which I didn’t have, that he couldn’t shovel sand for fifteen timed minutes without stopping. He said a man should give a good day’s work and grabbed a shovel. At the end of three minutes his face was red, at six he was staggering and before eight minutes were up his wife stopped him to save him from apoplexy. And he never mentioned shovel-leaning again. I’ve always been amused at the contention that brain work is harder than manual labor. I never knew a man to leave a desk for a muck-stick if he could avoid it.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
“A Primer on the 30s” Esquire (1 Jun 1960)
(Source)

Later reprinted.

Steinbeck, John -- “America and Americans” (1966)

Dave — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:40:15 +0000

The President must be greater than anyone else, but not better than anyone else. We subject him and his family to close and constant scrutiny and denounce them for things that we ourselves do every day. A Presidential slip of the tongue, a slight error in judgment — social, political, or ethical — can raise a storm of protest. We give the President more work than a man can do, more responsibility than a man should take, more pressure than a man can bear. We abuse him often and rarely praise him. We wear him out, use him up, eat him up. And with all this, Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
“America and Americans” (1966)

Steinbeck, John -- “On Critics,” Writers at Work, Fourth Series [ed. G. Plimpton] (1977)

Dave — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:08:17 +0000

Time is the only critic without ambition.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
“On Critics,” Writers at Work, Fourth Series [ed. G. Plimpton] (1977)

Steinbeck, John -- “In Awe of Words,” The Exonian, 75th anniversary edition, Exeter University (1930)

Dave — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:58:55 +0000

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.”

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
“In Awe of Words,” The Exonian, 75th anniversary edition, Exeter University (1930)

Steinbeck, John -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 20:49:06 +0000

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.”

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
(Attributed)

Quoted in George Plimpton (ed.) Writers at Work, Fourth Series (1981).

Steinbeck, John -- Cannery Row (1945)

Dave — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:55:55 +0000

The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
Cannery Row (1945)

Steinbeck, John -- East of Eden (1952)

Dave — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:22:31 +0000

It would be absurd if we did not understand both angels and devils, since we invented them.