Quote

Critics are the eunuchs of literature. They stand by in envious awe while the whole man and his partner demonstrate the art of living.

John Steinbeck

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Whole
Awe
Men
Partner
Partners
Critics
Stand
Literature
Eunuchs
Living
Envious
Art
Demonstrate

More quotes by John Steinbeck

Image
The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
John Steinbeck
Image
Men don't get knocked out, or I mean they can fight back against big things. What kills them is erosion they get nudged into failure. They get slowly scared.[...]It's slow. It rots out your guts.
John Steinbeck
Image
I don’t mind getting smacked on the chin. I just don’t want to get nibbled to death. There’s a difference.
John Steinbeck
Image
No story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us.
John Steinbeck
Image
Like most modern people, I don't believe in prophecy or magic and then spend half my time practicing it.
John Steinbeck
Image
A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid any more.
John Steinbeck
Image
A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean question: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well - or ill?
John Steinbeck
Image
Don't you love Jesus?' Well, I thought an' I thought an' finally I says, 'No, I don't know nobody name' Jesus. I know a bunch of stories, but I only love people.
John Steinbeck
Image
[He] fell right into the oldest conviction in the world-- that the girl you are in love with can't possibly be anything but true and honest.
John Steinbeck
Image
We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.
John Steinbeck
Image
A man without words is a man without thought.
John Steinbeck
Image
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.
John Steinbeck
Image
Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain and if you don't believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it.
John Steinbeck
Image
I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructible.
John Steinbeck
Image
A journey is a person in itself no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip a trip takes us.
John Steinbeck
Image
I believe there are monsters born in the world to human parents.... The face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or a malformed egg can produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?
John Steinbeck
Image
If you want to destroy a nation, give it too much - make it greedy, miserable and sick.
John Steinbeck
Image
The ancient commission of the writer has not changed. He is charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement.
John Steinbeck
Image
I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now--only that place where the books are kept.
John Steinbeck
Image
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
John Steinbeck