Of Mice and Men Top 10 Quotes

“I wisht I could put you in a cage with about a million mice an’ let you have fun.” His anger left him suddenly. He looked across the fire at Lennie’s anguished face, and then he looked ashamedly at the flames.

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 1. George threatens to lock Lennie up inside a cage. George often gets angry with Lennie because the physically very strong Lennie cannot control himself. But his anger always fades when he realizes Lennie is handicapped and his compassion for Lennie overtakes him.
I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you - John Steinbeck quote In Friendship

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place…With us it ain’t like that. 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.”
Lennie broke in. “But not us! An’ why? Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 1. George extols the virtues of friendship to Lenny, explaining that they are not like everyone else that work in their profession because they travel together. He reassures him of their special relationship and that they will look after each other no matter what happens. In the novella Steinbeck romanticizes and idealizes male friendships.
A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody - John Steinbeck quote In Companionship

“S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ’cause you was black. How’d you like that? S’pose you had to sit out here an’ read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody – to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 4. Crooks on a black man’s loneliness with nobody to talk to because he is so secluded from the social circle. This passage highlights the need for companionship and the oppressive nature of society for Crooks, who faces both loneliness and discrimination.
Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land - John Steinbeck quote In Heaven

“I seen hunderds 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. Hunderds 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. Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. 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.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 4. A cynical Crooks on George and Lennie’s dream. He foresees their dream is going to end in eventual disappointment. What Crooks says can also be seen as a comment on the death of the American Dream.

“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. I planted crops for damn near ever’body in this state, but they wasn’t my crops, and when I harvested ’em, it wasn’t none of my harvest.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 4. Candy to Crooks about the farm worker’s dream of having his own place. But wealthy farms exploit poor itinerant farm workers, pay them low wages so they never have enough to buy their own farm.

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.

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 5. This descriptive passes comes at the point in the novella when Curley’s wife’s body is discovered. The described “moment” – of time seeming to stop – is not only about Curley losing his wife, but also Lennie and George losing their dream. For it is the end of their lives as they know them.

Slim came directly to George and sat down beside him, sat very close to him. “Never you mind,” said Slim. “A guy got to sometimes.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 6. Slim on George’s killing of Lennie. Here Slim takes on the role of priest, comforting George after he just killed Lennie, suggesting it was the right thing to do in the circumstances. George kills Lennie to spare him jail or a painful death at the hands of the mob, after Lennie kills Curley’s wife by shaking her so hard her neck breaks.
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