One can find so many pains when the rain is falling.

- John Steinbeck

These words dropped into my childish mind as if you should accidentally drop a ring into a deep well. I did not think of them much at the time, but there came a day in my life when the ring was fished up out of the well, good as new.

- John Steinbeck

I hate cameras. They are so much more sure than I am about everything.

- John Steinbeck

It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.

- John Steinbeck

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.

- John Steinbeck

The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.

- John Steinbeck

I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature.

- John Steinbeck

A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ.

- John Steinbeck

No one wants advice - only corroboration.

- John Steinbeck

I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier?

- John Steinbeck