John Steinbeck

"If there is a magic in story telling, and I don't know that there is, it is the deepest magic of all."

"We are all Barbarians, and the culture is very thin and the paste is old."

"Maybe the best national motto is 'Let's try that.'"

"A reader lives a thousand lives. The man who reads only one life."

"The moment of conception, the moment of creative insight, is when you become a writer."

"It is the responsibility of the writer to lift people up, not just to entertain them."

"A man without patience is like a tree without roots."

"Fear is the greatest obstacle to living fully."

"Sometimes, when the night is quiet and the moon is full, a man's heart speaks the truth."

"The most important thing is the person beside you and the conversation you share."

"A nation is only as strong as its weakest member."

"You cannot stay in one place too long or you will become a part of it."

"The great challenge in life is to become what you already are."

"One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often."

"A man becomes what he thinks about most of the time."

"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it."

"A writer must believe that what he has to say is more important than all the rules."

"There is a part of every man that wants to hurt what it loves."

"We do not know whether we are the first world, or the last world."

"Every man has the right to his own despair."

"The greatest American, or anyone, is a kind one."

"If you're in trouble or hurt or need, go to poor people. They're the only ones who'll help."

"A person either is or isn't. There's no in between."

"We know better and do worse."

"All of us want so many things we can never have."

"The greatest things in life come from great pain."

"A real writer must have something to say that the world needs."

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

"Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow."

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born."