Of Mice And Men Quotes

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Of Mice and Men is a novella written by John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it narrates the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States. Here are some quotes from this movie;

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. “Well, we’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof.”
“‘God, you’re a lot of trouble,’ said George. ‘I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.'”

“For two bits I’d shove out of here. If we can get jus’ a few dollars in the poke we’ll shove off and go up the American River and pan gold. We can make maybe a couple of dollars a day there, and we might hit a pocket.”

“Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ’em.””An’ live off the fatta the lan’… An’ have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it.”

“If I was bright, if I was even a little bit smart, I’d have my own little place, an’ I’d be bringin’ in my own crops, ‘stead of doin’ all the work and not getting what comes up outa the ground.”

“In one month. Right squack in one month. Know what I’m gon’ta do? I’m gon’ta write to them old people that owns the place that we’ll take it. An’ Candy’ll send a hunderd dollars to bind her.”

“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.”

“We gonna work on a ranch, George.”

“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.”

“Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now.”

Lennie’s last words to George.
“‘Never you mind,’ said Slim. ‘A guy got to sometimes.'”
“Lennie said, ‘I thought you was mad at me, George.’
‘No,’ said George. ‘No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.”
“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no fambly. They don’t belong no place.”

“‘I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me.’

‘If it was here, you could have some.’
‘But I wouldn’t eat none, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it.'”
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”

“Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes; rings widened across the pool to the other side and came back again. Lennie watched them go. ‘Look, George. Look what I done.'”

“I seen things out here. I wasn’t drunk. I don’t know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an’ then it would be all right. But I jus’ don’t know.”

“Guys don’t come into a man’s room very much.”

“You said I was your cousin, George.”

“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.”

“That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I get old an’ a cripple.”

“A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not.”

“‘What you want of a dead mouse, anyways?’ ‘I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along,’ said Lennie.'”

“He’s all stiff with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?”

“Ain’t many guys travel around together… I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.”

“Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outa my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room.”
“Although there was evening brightness showing through the windows of the bunk house, inside it was dusk.”

“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.”

“The day was going fast now. Only the tops of the Gabilan Mountains flamed with the light of the sun that had gone from the valley. A water snake slipped along on the pool, its head held up like a little periscope. The reeds jerked slightly in the current.”

“There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores, a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water.”
“Sure they all want it. 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’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, ’cause I ain’t got no relatives nor nothing.”

“You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs.”

“We know what we got, and we don’t care whether you know it or not.”

“S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hunderd an’ fifty bucks I’d put in. I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some. How’d that be?”

“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.”

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for ‘Of Mice And Men’ quotes then why not take a look at [‘East Of Eden’ quotes], or [Harper Lee quotes]?

Of Mice and Men Quotes About Friendship

“Jesus Christ, Lennie! You can’t remember nothing that happens, but you remember ever’ word I say.” – George
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you.” – Lennie
Lennie: “You said I was your cousin!”
George: “That was a lie. If I was a relative of yours, I’d shoot myself.”
“We know what we got, and we don’t care whether you know it or not.” – Candy
Lennie: “I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me.”
George: “If it was here, you could have some.”

Lennie: “But I wouldn’t eat none, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it.”
“‘Course Lennie’s a God damn nuisance most of the time, but you get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him.” – George
“It ain’t no lie. We’re gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an’ live on the fatta the lan’.” – Lennie
“I turns to Lennie and says, ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him. An’ he was so damn nice to me for pullin’ him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. Well, I ain’t done nothing like that no more.” – George
“No, Lennie, I ain’t mad. I never been mad, and I ain’ now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.” – George
“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.” – George

Of Mice And Men Quotes About Loneliness

‘Candy looked for help from face to face’
“A guy needs a guy near him”
“I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain’t wanted in my room”
“I tell ya a guy gets to lonely an’ he gets sick”
“I should go away and leave you alone?”
“I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.”

“It ain’t no lie. We’re gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an’ live on the fatta the lan’.”
“Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees, embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had it just right.”
“Lennie said, ‘I thought you was mad at me, George.’ ”
“I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me.”
“Drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse”
“Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you”
“Go on… George. How I get to tend the rabbits”
Lennie leaned eagerly towards his, “Le’s go, George. Le’s get outta here. It’s mean here.
Lennie said softly, “We could live off the fatta the lan’ .”
“I wisht George was here. I wisht George was here”

“Guys like us who work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world, they ain’t got no family, they don’t belong no place.”
When they can me here I wisht somebody ‘d shoot me. But they won ‘t do nothing like that. I won ‘t have no place to go, an ‘ I can ‘t get no more jobs’” (Steinbeck 60).
Candy is talking about how he came to realize, from the help of others, that his dog was much too old to be happy any longer, and Candy was forced to allow his dog to be shot. Without his dog, Candy is emotionally destroyed and fears to go on in life without his only friend.…

As an old man who is getting useless in ranch, Candy lived in a hopeless way before George and Lennie’s coming, but had the only comfort, his old dog.
Curley, the offspring of the ranch’s owner, uses rudeness and violence to mask his inferiority about stature. Curley’s wife falls into the dissatisfaction of her marriage, while she flirts with the men on ranch to relieve her loneliness. Another character is Crooks, called Negro by his co-workers, who suffered a lot of prejudice, he had to isolate himself until Lennie warms…
“I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain’t no good. They don’t have no fun. After a long time they get mean.”
“Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other”
“if I was alone I could live so easy… no trouble… I could… get whatever I want”

Of Mice And Men Quotes About Lennie

Drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse”
Animalistic attitude towards his power and his simplicity. Obviously his behaviour shows that he doesn’t know how to go about things but he just does it in the most simple manner.
When he strokes the mice and kills it shows how he has very little control over his power and his actions. he doesn’t have the intellect to do things the right way.
“Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you”
shows how happy the relatipship make him. He thinks it is a symbiotic relationship but to the reader it seems as if only George is looking after Lennie. However we must not forget how important the friendship is to George. Without Lennie George could have gone crazy and this is perfectly shown in the character of Crooks.
“Go on… George. How I get to tend the rabbits”
He like really simple things and this is the part of the dream he really wants. This shows how he might not have received affection in his childhood and this is some kind of maternal instinct.
Lennie watched her, fascinated
The use of the adjective ‘fascinated’ tells us he has a minor obsession growing. It is something which is going to be important to him in the future and as we know she seals his fate.
Lennie leaned eagerly towards his, “Le’s go, George. Le’s get outta here. It’s mean here.
It tells us that Lennie has some insight into what was going to happen. Even though he is so big and strong; this is how tender and afraid he was. He knew he was going to get into trouble at some point because people are not going to be nice or something is going to get out of hand. The fact that he said it ‘eagerly’ which shows a childlike innocence.
Lennie said softly, “We could live off the fatta the lan’ .”
“Sure” said George.

Summarises the American dream and how people wanted to own work for themselves and be their own bosses. This was the dream that George and Lennie were chasing.
Curley was flopping like a fish on a line
Again this shows his power and the pain he can cause to humans beings.
“I wisht George was here. I wisht George was here”
Desperation for George when the Crooks is teasing him. He shows us the need he has for George. Showing how important George is to him to ease the pain. George has done it for him time and time again and so therefore he wants George with him at that point.
Slim: “I have never seen such a strong guy”
Showing his unique place in the ranch. Also showing us why he gets on Curley’s nerves so much.
Lennie smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends. (At Crooks)
He doesn’t understand the social stigmas between the whites and the blacks. He doesn’t understand that Crooks’ place is private and this shows how he doesn’t really know what he is doing without George.
“O.K.,” said George. “An’ you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed, neither.” Lennie looked puzzled. “Like I done in Weed?” “Oh, so ya forgot that too, did ya? Well, I ain’t gonna remind ya, fear ya do it again.” A light of understanding broke on Lennie’s face. “They run us outa Weed,” he exploded triumphantly. “Run us out, hell,” said George disgustedly. “We run. They was lookin’ for us, but they didn’t catch us.” Lennie giggled happily. “I didn’t forget that, you bet.”
“Lennie—if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush… Hide in the brush till I come for you.”
“It ain’t so funny, him an’ me goin’ aroun’ together,” George said at last. “Him and me was both born in Auburn. I knowed his Aunt Clara. She took him when he was a baby and raised him up. When his Aunt Clara died, Lennie just come along with me out workin’. Got kinda used to each other after a little while.”
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”
“We could live offa the fatta the lan’.”
“It ain’t no lie. We’re gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an’ live on the fatta the lan’.”
“Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees, embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had it just right.”
“Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely. ”
Lennie said, ‘I thought you was mad at me, George.’ ” ‘No,’ said George. ‘No, Lennie, I ain’t mad. I never been mad, and I ain’ now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.′ ”
“Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes; rings widened across the pool o the other side and came back again. Lennie watched them go. ‘Look, George. Look what I done.’ ”
“I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me.” “If it was here, you could have some.” “But I wouldn’t eat none, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it.

Of Mice And Men Quotes About Dreams

“Well, we ain’t got any,” George exploded. “Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble….An’ whatta I got,” George went on furiously. “I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.”
“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.”
[…] 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.”
“Well,” said George, “we’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof.”
“We could live offa the fatta the lan’.”
“S’pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing.” Old Candy nodded in appreciation of the idea. “We’d just go to her,” George said. “We wouldn’t ask nobody if we could. Jus’ say, ‘We’ll go to her,’ an’ we would. Jus’ milk the cow and sling some grain to the chickens an’ go to her.”
“I seen hundreds 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 [. . .] 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. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.”
“I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.”

“No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.”
“we’ll shove off and go up the American River and pan gold”
an example of the American Dream / materialism
“When Candy spoke they both jumped as though they had been caught doing something reprehensible”
Dreaming is slightly frowned upon
“Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’.”
The American Dream
“We’re gonna have a little house”
“Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes”
“An’ live off the fatta the lan’…An’ have rabbits”
“Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.”
This shows the reality of the American Dream