Quote

The last clear definite function of man — muscles aching to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need — this is man.

John Steinbeck

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John Steinbeck
Age: 66 †
Born: 1902
Born: February 27
Died: 1968
Died: December 20
Author
Novelist
Screenwriter
War Correspondent
Writer
Salinas
California
John Ernst Steinbeck
Jr.
John Ernst Steinbeck
John Ernest Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr
Steinbeck
Mind
Function
Men
Beyond
Single
Create
Clear
Aching
Last
Definite
Need
Muscles
Work
Minds

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There are places in this world where fable, myth, preconception, love, longing or prejudice step in and so distort a cool, clear appraisal that a kind of high colored magical confusion takes permanent hold...Surely Texas is such a place.
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... a man is a very important thing-maybe more important than a star.
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The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty.
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One man was so mad at me that he ended his letter, Beware. You will never get out of this world alive.
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I find out of long experience that I admire all nations and hate all governments
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Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on.
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Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love.
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There are people who will say that this whole account is a lie, but a thing isn't necessarily a lie even if it didn't necessarily happen.
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I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.
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A stilted heron labored up into the air and pounded down the river.
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The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage.
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A fallow field is a sin.
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There's an awful lot of inactive kindness which is nothing but laziness, not wanting any trouble, confusion, or effort.
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When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influences and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror.
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People who are most afraid of their dreams convince themselves they don't dream at all.
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The ways of sin are curious . . . I guess if a man had to shuck off everything he had, inside and out, he'd manage to hide a few little sins somewhere for his own discomfort. They're the last things we'll give up.
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A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.
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Sometimes when she was alone, and she knew she was alone, she permitted her mind to play in a garden, and she smiled.
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A dog is a bond between strangers.
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Some men hunger so much for love that they lose everything that is loveable about them.
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