John Steinbeck

"When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. I fear the disease is incurable."

21 likes

Source: John Steinbeck (1980). “Travels with Charley in Search of America”, p.8, 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