John Steinbeck
Birthday:
27 February 1902, Salinas, California, USA
Birth Name:
John Ernst Steinbeck
Height:
183 cm
John Steinbeck was the third of four children and the only son born to John Ernst and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. His father was County Treasurer and his mother, a former schoolteacher. John graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and attended classes at Stanford University, leaving in 1925 without a degree. He was variously employed as a sales cl...
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John Steinbeck was the third of four children and the only son born to John Ernst and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. His father was County Treasurer and his mother, a former schoolteacher. John graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and attended classes at Stanford University, leaving in 1925 without a degree. He was variously employed as a sales clerk, farm laborer, ranch hand and factory worker. In 1925, he traveled by freight from Los Angeles to New York, where he was a construction worker. From 1926-1928, he was a caretaker in Lake Tahoe, CA. His first novel, "Cup of Gold," was published in 1929. During the 1930s, he produced most of his famous novels ("To a God Unknown," "Tortilla Flat," "In Dubious Battle," "Of Mice and Men," and his Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Grapes of Wrath"). In 1941, he moved with the singer who would become his second wife to New York City. They had two sons, Thom (b. 1944) and John IV (b. 1946). In 1948, his close friend Ed Ricketts died, he went through a divorce, he took a a tour of Russia, and he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His wrote the screenplay for Viva Zapata! (1952), and 17 of his works have been made into movies. He received three Academy Award nominations. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. US President Lyndon Johnson awarded him the United States Medal of Freedom in 1964, and he was commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp on what would have been his 75th birthday. His ashes lie in Garden of Memories Cemetery in Salinas. Show less «
A man on a horse is spiritually, as well as physically, bigger than a man on foot.
A man on a horse is spiritually, as well as physically, bigger than a man on foot.
Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, and then steps in it.
Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, and then steps in it.
It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.
It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.
I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why then do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier?
I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why then do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier?
The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid stable business.
The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid stable business.
[advice to his young son] There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-impo...Show more »
[advice to his young son] There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you - of kindness and consideration and respect - not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak, but the second can release in you strength and courage and goodness, and even wisdom you didn't know you had. Show less «
It is a common experience that a problem, difficult at night, is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
It is a common experience that a problem, difficult at night, is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that o...Show more »
It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world. Show less «
Give a critic an inch, he'll write a play.
Give a critic an inch, he'll write a play.
We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.
We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.
I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quick vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.
I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quick vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.
John Steinbeck's Photos
