All we got is the family unbroke.

The nicest thing in the world you can do for anybody is let them help you.

The sale of souls to gain the whole world is completely voluntary and almost unanimous...but not quite.

With knowledge there is no hope,... without hope I would sit motionless, rusting like unused armor.

I don't think there is a single sentence in this whole book [East of Eden] that does not either develop character, carry on the story or provide necessary background.

I have taken as much as six years to prepare a book for writing. There is such a delirium of effort in the production of a book; it's like childbirth. And, like childbirth, one forgets the pains immediately so that when you come to write another one you dare to take it up again. Some precious anesthesia sees you through.

I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer -- and what trees and seasons smelled like -- how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.