John Steinbeck

"The cars of the migrant people crawled out of the side roads onto the great cross-country highway, and they took the migrant way to the West.... And because they were lonely and perplexed, because they had all come from a place of sadness and worry and defeat, and because they were all going to a mysterious new place, ... a strange thing happened: the twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the golden time in the West was one dream."

3 likes

Source: John Steinbeck (1980). “Travels with Charley in Search of America”, p.177, Penguin

About the author

John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

Novelist, Journalist

John Steinbeck was an American author known for his poignant depictions of social issues, particularly in works like 'The Grapes of Wrath'.

All quotes by John Steinbeck →

Same author

More quotes by John Steinbeck

See all →
John Steinbeck Novelist, Journalist

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."

Read quote
John Steinbeck Novelist, Journalist

"It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."

Read quote