John Steinbeck Quotes About Fighting

Quotes about: Fighting

• If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

  John Steinbeck

  Military, Fighting, Finding Yourself

• And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.

  John Steinbeck

  Inspirational, Freedom, Believe

  John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.116, Penguin

• This I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.

  John Steinbeck

  Freedom, Fighting, Government

  John Steinbeck (2012). “The Portable Steinbeck”, p.827, Penguin

• I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for that is one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost.

  John Steinbeck

  Hate, Fighting, Mind

  John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.116, Penguin

• Well, I remember this girl. I am not whole without her. I am not alive without her. When she was with me I was more alive than I have ever been, and not only when she was pleasant either. Even when we were fighting I was whole.

  John Steinbeck

  Girl, Fighting, Alive

  John Steinbeck (2007). “Travels with Charley and Later Novels, 1947-1962”

• Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader, cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.

  John Steinbeck

  War, Fighting, Winning

  John Steinbeck (2009). “The Short Novels of John Steinbeck: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.344, Penguin

• Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each other on their way to the throne of God.

  John Steinbeck

  Prayer, Fighting, Thrones

  John Steinbeck (1997). “Tortilla Flat”, p.32, Penguin

• This I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.

  John Steinbeck

  Freedom, Fighting, Eden

  John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.116, Penguin

• Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry n’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there.

  John Steinbeck

  Kids, Fighting, Wrath

  The Grapes of Wrath ch. 28 (1939)

• But 'Thou mayest!'! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win

  John Steinbeck

  Brother, Fighting, Winning

  John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.265, Penguin

• Men don't get knocked out, or I mean they can fight back against big things. What kills them is erosion; they get nudged into failure. They get slowly scared.[...]It's slow. It rots out your guts.

  John Steinbeck

  Mean, Fighting, Men

  John Steinbeck (2008). “The Winter of Our Discontent”, p.40, Penguin

• The Hebrew word, the word timshel - 'Thou mayest' - that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open...Why, that makes a man great...He can choose his course and fight it through and win...I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed - because 'Thou mayest'. ch 24

  John Steinbeck

  Fighting, Winning, Unique

• I have no choice of living or dying, you see, sir--but I do have a choice of how I do it. If I tell them not to fight, they will be sorry, but they will fight. If I tell them to fight, they will be glad, and I who am not a very brave man will have made them a little braver.

  John Steinbeck

  Sorry, Fighting, Men

  John Steinbeck (2001). “Novels, 1942-1952”

• It occurs to me that just as the Carthaginians hired mercenaries to do their fighting for them, we Americans being in mercenaries to do our hard and humble work. I hope we may not be overwhelmed one day by peoples not too proud or too lazy or too soft to bend to the earth and pick up the things we eat.

  John Steinbeck

  Humble, Fighting, Lazy

  John Steinbeck (2007). “Travels with Charley and Later Novels, 1947-1962”

• ...men in fear and hunger destroy their stomachs in the fight to secure certain food, where men hungering for love destroy everything lovable about them.

  John Steinbeck

  Fighting, Men, Bulls

  "The Short Novels of John Steinbeck".

• Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there.

  John Steinbeck

  Fighting, People, Looks

  "Fictional character: Tom Joad". "The Grapes of Wrath", www.imdb.com. 1940.

• I guess this is why I hate governments, all governments. It is always the rule, the fine print, carried out by fine-print men. There's nothing to fight, no wall to hammer with frustrated fists.

  John Steinbeck

  Wall, Hate, Fighting

  John Steinbeck (1980). “Travels with Charley in Search of America”, p.51, Penguin

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