John Steinbeck Quotes

There were certain standard practices in the repair of the Model T. For instance, if the radiator sprunk a leak, you dropped a handful of corn or oatmeal into the water. The heat of the water cooked the mush which coated the tubes and sealed the leak. Once, years later, I had a car of […]

In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.

America was not planned; it became. Plans made for it fell apart, were forgotten. From being a polyglot nation, Americans became the worst linguists in the world.

American cities are like badger holes ringed with trash.

For centuries America and Americans have been the target for opinions – Asian, African, and European – only these opinions have been called criticism, observation, or, God help us, evaluation. Unfortunately, Americans have allowed these foreign opinions the value set on them by their authors… This essay is not an attempt to answer or refute […]

I have lived and traveled in foreign countries where my blood lines of Scottish-Irish, English, and German are common. Let us say that my shoes and hat were made in England, my clothing in Italy cut from British cloth, my shirts and ties in France or Italy, my raincoat in Scotland. In addition, I have […]

The American look is not limited to people of Caucasian ancestry. In northern California, where I grew up, there was a large Japanese population, many of whom I knew well. The father and mother would be short, square, wide in the hip, and bowlegged, their heads round, the skin quite dark, the eyes almond with […]

Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.

No one wants advice – only corroboration.