His ear heard more than what was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.
John SteinbeckIn business and in politics a man must carve and maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there, he can be great and kind-but he must get there first.
John SteinbeckIt is better to sit in appreciative contemplation of a world in which beauty is eternally supported on a foundation of ugliness: cut out the support, and beauty will sink from sight.
John SteinbeckA man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers.
John SteinbeckThis you may say of man - when theories change and crash, when schools, philosophies, when narrow dark alleys of thought, national, religious, economic, grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes. Having stepped forward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never the full step back.
John SteinbeckDear Lord,' he said. 'let me be like Aron. Donโt make me mean. I donโt want to be. If you will let everybody like me, why, Iโll give you anything in the world, and if I havenโt got it, why, Iโll go for to get it. I donโt want to be mean. I donโt want to be lonely. For Jesusโ sake, Amen.
John Steinbeck