And now submarines are armed with mass murder, our silly, only way of deterring mass murder.

— John Steinbeck

And now they were weary and frightened because they had gone against a system they did not understand, and it had beaten them. They knew that the team and the wagon were worth much more. They knew the buyer man would get much more, but they didn't know how to do it. Merchandising was a secret to them.

— John Steinbeck

And, of course, people are interested only in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And I here make a rule - a great and lasting story is about everyone, or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting - only the deeply personal and familiar.

— John Steinbeck

...and the break would never come as long as fear can turn to wrath.

— John Steinbeck

And the great owners, who had become through the might of their holdings both more and less than men

— John Steinbeck

And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. The great owners ignored the three cries of history. The land fell into fewer hands, the number of the dispossessed increased, and every effort of the great owners was directed at repression. The money was spent for arms, for gas to protect the great holdings, and spies were sent to catch the murmuring of revolt so that it might be stamped out. The changing economy was ignored, plans for the change ignored; and only means to destroy revolt were considered, while the causes of revolt went on.

— John Steinbeck

And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.

— John Steinbeck

And then I saw what I was to see so many times on the journey--a look of longing. "Lord! I wish I could go.

— John Steinbeck

And then I saw what I was to see so many times on the journey—a look of longing. “Lord! I wish I could go.” “Don’t you like it here?” “Sure. It’s all right, but I wish I could go.” “You don’t even know where I’m going.”“I don’t care. I’d like to go anywhere.

— John Steinbeck

And the women who had thought they wanted dresses never realized that what they had wanted was happiness.

— John Steinbeck