John Steinbeck

“And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.”

“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.”

“There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn't know you had.”

“All great and precious things are lonely.”

“When a man says he does not want to speak of something he usually means he can think of nothing else.”