John Steinbeck Quotes About Lying

Quotes about: Lying

• “Do you take pride in your hurt?” Samuel asked. “Does it make you seem large and tragic?” “I don't know.” “Well, think about it. Maybe you're playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience.”

  John Steinbeck

  Hurt, Lying, Pride

  "East of Eden".

• An unbelieved truth can hurt a man much more than a lie. It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There's a punishment for it, and it's usually crucifixion.

  John Steinbeck

  Courage, Hurt, Lying

  John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.232, Penguin

• If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced that there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe that can be passed from one person to another. The formula seems to lie solely in the aching urge of the writer to convey something he feels important to the reader. If the writer has that urge, he may sometimes but by no means always find the way to do it.

  John Steinbeck

  Lying, Writing, Mean

• The lies we tell about our duty and our purposes, the meaningless words of science and philosophy, are walls that topple before a bewildered little ‘why’.

  John Steinbeck

  Wall, Philosophy, Lying

  John Steinbeck (1995). “The Log from the Sea of Cortez”, p.174, Penguin

• I think the difference between a lie and a story is that a story utilizes the trappings and appearance of truth for the interest of the listener as well as of the teller. A story has in it neither gain nor loss. But a lie is a device for profit or escape. I suppose if that definition is strictly held to, then a writer of stories is a liar - if he is financially fortunate.

  John Steinbeck

  Liars, Lying, Loss

  John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.67, Penguin

• Fella in business got to lie an' cheat, but he calls it somepin else. That's what's important. You go steal that tire an' you're a thief, but he tried to steal your four dollars for a busted tire. They call that sound business.

  John Steinbeck

  Business, Lying, Important

  John Steinbeck (2016). “The Grapes of Wrath”, p.95, Hamilton Books

• You are not a man anymore. You are a soldier. Your comfort is of no importance and your life isn't of much importance. Most of your orders will be unpleasant, but that's not your business. They should've trained you for this, and not for flower-strewn streets. They should have built your soul with truth, not led along with lies.

  John Steinbeck

  Lying, Military, Flower

• Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.

  John Steinbeck

  Lonely, Art, Philosophy

  "East of Eden". Book by John Steinbeck, 1952.

• Sometimes, a lie is told in kindness. I don't believe it ever works kindly. The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the slow, eating agony of a lie is never lost.

  John Steinbeck

  Pain, Kindness, Lying

  John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.376, Penguin

• Lennie said quietly, "It ain't no lie. We're gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an' live on the fatta the lan'.

  John Steinbeck

  Lying, Littles, Lennie

  John Steinbeck (1994). “Of Mice and Men”, p.55, Penguin

• There are people who will say that this whole account is a lie, but a thing isn't necessarily a lie even if it didn't necessarily happen.

  John Steinbeck

  Lying, People, Accounts

  John Steinbeck (2008). “Sweet Thursday”, p.21, Penguin

• No one knows how greatness comes to a man. It may lie in his blackness, sleeping, or it may lance into him like those driven fiery particles from outer space. These things, however, are known about greatness: need gives it life and puts it in action; it never comes without pain; it leaves a man changed, chastened, and exalted at the same time--he can never return to simplicity.

  John Steinbeck

  Pain, Lying, Sleep

  John Steinbeck (2008). “Sweet Thursday”, p.316, Penguin

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