Thomas Steinbeck Quotes & Sayings

“Plot makes the character just as history makes the man.”

“You didn't grow up in the shadow of John Steinbeck. He put you on his shoulders and gave you all the light you wanted.”

“My father valued patriotism above all other social obligations, but he had his own particular interpretation of just how true patriotism was meant to function.”

“For someone who loves literature, and all books on principle, being asked to name three titles over a half century of serious reading is akin to asking one to recall their three favorite sunsets.”

“From my father's point of view, without a thought for self, a true patriot stands up against the stones of condemnation and speaks for those who are given no real voice in the halls of justice or the halls of government.”

“The biggest impact my father had on my life was teaching the importance of literacy.”

“My father, John Steinbeck, was a man who held human history in great reverence, and in particular the biographies of those people who had risked their lives, their fortunes, and their worldly honor to defend the rights and prerogatives of those who were powerless to defend themselves.”

“I like writing, but I write for self-improvement more than I do for money.”

“My father believed, like Pericles, that a man's genius could be easily judged by the number of unenlightened fools set in phalanx against his ideas.”

“I started writing serious books so late because I knew I'd be accused of riding on my father's coattails.”