John Steinbeck

"A man's reach should exceed his grasp."

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, but a man must try."

"In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future, and bond to one another."

"A man should be able to change a tire, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, and tell a good story."

"Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts."

"The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business."

"Man is the only animal that consciously knows he is going to die."

"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."

"It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of action, we should take the one that gives us a fighting chance of living together afterwards."

"The journey is a lonely one, and a man must make it alone."

"We are not going to have a good time, any of us, all the time. That isn't the way life works."

"A man with a plan is a man with hope."

"Courage is the thing. All goes if courage goes."

"The moment a man ceases to struggle, he begins to die."

"Love is a wonderful thing, but it requires constant nourishment."

"The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions."

"People need responsibility. They need to know they matter."

"The craft of writing is the art of selection and arrangement."

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

"All the good things are expensive; all the bad things are cheap."

"A writer must tell the truth or at least try to."

"The pleasures of eating, of sexuality, of winning, of recognition are delightful, centripetal experiences that pull us deeper into ourselves."

"If you understand each other you will be kind to each other."

"The pattern of a man's life seems clearer to someone who is watching it from outside."

"Every human wants to leave something behind that says he was here."

"In the souls of people there is a goodness that can be awakened even in the worst of us."

"The mind cannot accept that it does not exist."

"Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn."

"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?"

"A man may have tremendous potential but potential is useless without action."