Do you think it's funny to be so serious when I'm not even out of high school?' she asked. 'I don't see how it could be any other way,' said Lee. 'Laughter comes later, like wisdom teeth, and laughter at yourself comes last of all in a mad race with death, and sometimes it isn't in time.
John SteinbeckA 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 SteinbeckNo story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us.
John SteinbeckThree hours of writing require twenty hours of preparation. Luckily I have learned to dream about the work, which saves me some working time.
John SteinbeckI see too many men delay their exits with a sickly, slow reluctance to leave the stage. It's bad theater as well as bad living.
John SteinbeckHe had said, "I am a man," and that meant certain things to Juana. It meant that he was half insane and half god. It meant that Kino would drive his strength against a mountain and plunge his strength against the sea. Juana, in her woman's soul, knew that the mountain would stand while the man broke himself; that the sea would surge while the man drowned in it. And yet it was this thing that made him a man, half insane and half god, and Juana had need of a man; she could not live without a man.
John Steinbeck