One of the most significant American classics is of mice and men quotes, which not only demonstrates the value of friendship but also boldly asserts the futility of the American dream. George provides help for Lennie because it appears that he lacks the mental capacity to comprehend his surroundings.
Of Mice and Men Quotes
Here are some famous ‘Of Mice And Men’ quotes that reveal the diverse characters in the novel.
- “Curley’s like alot of little guys. He hates big guys.” – The Old Man.
- “A man got to have some rights even if he don’t like ’em.” – Crooks.
- “‘He’s a nice fella,’ said Slim. ‘Guy don’t need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it jus’ works the other way around. Take a real smart guy and he ain’t hardly ever a nice fella.’” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “She’s gonna make a mess. They’s gonna be a bad mess about her.” – George, talking about Curley’s wife.
- “Lady, huh? Don’t even remember who that lady was. That was your own Aunt Clara. An’ she stopped givin’ ’em to ya. You always killed ’em.” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “Well, we’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof.” – George.
- “‘God, you’re a lot of trouble,’ said George. ‘I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.’” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “For two bits I’d shove out of here. If we can get jus’ a few dollars in the poke we’ll shove off and go up the American River and pan gold. We can make maybe a couple of dollars a day there, and we might hit a pocket.” – George.
- “Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ’em.” – George. Of Mice and Men Quotes
- “An’ live off the fatta the lan’… An’ have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it.” – Lennie.
- “If I was bright, if I was even a little bit smart, I’d have my own little place, an’ I’d be bringin’ in my own crops, ‘stead of doin’ all the work and not getting what comes up outa the ground.” – George.
- “In one month. Right squack in one month. Know what I’m gon’ta do? I’m gon’ta write to them old people that owns the place that we’ll take it. An’ Candy’ll send a hunderd dollars to bind her.” – George.
- “Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head.” – Crooks.
- “We gonna work on a ranch, George.” – Lennie.
- “I seen hundereds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it.” – Crooks.
- “Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now.” – Lennie’s last words to George.
- “Never you mind,’ said Slim. ‘A guy got to sometimes.’” – After George euthanized Lennie.
- “Lennie said, ‘I thought you was mad at me, George.’ ‘No,’ said George. ‘No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no fambly. They don’t belong no place.” – George.
- ”I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me.’ ‘If it was here, you could have some.’ ‘But I wouldn’t eat none, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it.’” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” – Lennie.
- “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes; rings widened across the pool to the other side and came back again. Lennie watched them go. ‘Look, George. Look what I done.” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “I seen things out here. I wasn’t drunk. I don’t know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an’ then it would be all right. But I jus’ don’t know.” – Crooks.
- “Guys don’t come into a man’s room very much.” – Crooks”
Of Mice and Men Book Quotes Around Nature and Time
- “We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.” – George.
- “That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wish somebody’d shoot me if I get old an’ a cripple.” – Slim.
- “A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not.” – Crooks.
- “‘What you want of a dead mouse, anyways?’ ‘I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along,’ said Lennie.’” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “He’s all stiff with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?” – Carlson.
- “Ain’t many guys travel around together… I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” – Slim.
- “Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outa my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room.” – Crooks. Of Mice and Men Quotes
- “Although there was evening brightness showing through the windows of the bunk house, inside it was dusk.” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment.” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “The day was going fast now. Only the tops of the Gabilan Mountains flamed with the light of the sun that had gone from the valley. A water snake slipped along on the pool, its head held up like a little periscope. The reeds jerked slightly in the current.” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores, a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water.” – ‘Of Mice And Men’.
- “Sure they all want it. Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’thin’ that was his. Som’thin’ he could live on and there couldn’t nobody throw him off of it. I never had none.” – Candy.
- “I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, ’cause I ain’t got no relatives nor nothing.” – Candy.
- “You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wish somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs.” – Candy.
- “We know what we got, and we don’t care whether you know it or not.” – Candy. Of Mice and Men Quotes
- “S’pose I went in with you guys. That’s three hundred an’ fifty bucks I’d put in. I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some. How’d that be?” – Candy.
- “I planted crops for damn near everybody in this state, but they wasn’t my crops, and when I harvested ’em, it wasn’t none of my harvest.” – Candy.
Of Mice and Men Quotes on Hard Work
- “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” ― John Steinbeck
- “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
- “George can tell you screwy things, and it don’t matter. It’s just the talking. . . . That’s all.” ― John Steinbeck
- “But you get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him.” ― John Steinbeck
- “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.” ― John Steinbeck,
- “Guys like us got nothing to look ahead to.” ― John Steinbeck
- ″Come on in and set a while,’ Crooks said. ‘Long as you won’t get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down.‘” ― John Steinbeck
- “A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that.” ― John Steinbeck
- “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung upon a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” ― John Steinbeck
- “We know what we got, and we don’t care whether you know it or not.” ― John Steinbeck
- “Try to understand each other!” ― John Steinbeck
- “His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.” ― John Steinbeck
- “They fell into a silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true.” ― John Steinbeck
- “They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it.” ―
- “You never oughta drink water when it ain’t runnin’.” ―
- “Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is.” ―
- “Lennie begged, “Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now. Sure right now. I gotta. We gotta.” ―
- “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.”―
- “Ain’t many guys travel around together,” he mused. “I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” ―
- “I can still tend the rabbits, George? I didn’t mean no harm, George.” ―
- “We know what we got, and we don’t care whether you know it or not.” ―
- “Trouble with mice is you always kill ’em. ” ―
- “His ear heard more than what was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.” ―
If you find this quotes interesting and helpful, do well to share with friends and family to enjoy with you.
CSN Team.
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