[Cannery Row's] inhabitants are, as the man once said, 'whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,' by which he meant everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, 'saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,' and he would have meant the same thing.

Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America.

Everyone I have ever known very well has been concerned that I would eventually starve. Probably I shall. It isn't important enough to me to be an obsession.

No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe

I was born lost and take no pleasure in being found.

Socialism is just another form of religion, and thus delusional.

My whole work drive has been aimed at making people understand each other. . .