Of Mice and Men Quotes

“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”

“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.”

“Guy don’t need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it jus’ works the other way around. Take a real smart guy and he ain’t hardly ever a nice fella.”

“His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.”

“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’.”

“You never oughta drink water when it ain’t runnin’.”

“They fell into a silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true.”

“We got a future.”

“A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that.”

“George can tell you screwy things, and it don’t matter. It’s just the talking. . . . That’s all.”

“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.”

“When his Aunt Clara died, Lennie just come along with me out workin’. Got kinda used to each other after a little while.”

″‘Come on in and set a while,’ Crooks said. ‘Long as you won’t get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down.‘”

″‘I said what stake you got in this guy? You takin’ his pay away from him?′ ‘No, ‘course I ain’t. Why you think I’m sellin’ him out?′ ‘Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is.‘”

“A guy on a ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ast no questions.”

“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. They get wantin’ to fight all the time.”

“I gotta think about that. We was always gonna do it by ourselves.”

“But you get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him.”

“Tonight I’m gonna lay right here and look up. I like it.”

“George said wonderingly, ‘S’pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, . . . We’d just go to her . . . 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.‘”

“And it’d be our own, an’ nobody could can us. . . . An’ if a fren’ come along, why we’d have an extra bunk, an’ we’d say, ‘Why don’t you spen’ the night?′ An’ . . . he would.”

“But you jus’ tell an’ try to get this guy canned and we’ll tell ever’body, an’ then will you get the laugh.”

“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.”

“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.

“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.”

“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.′ ”

“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 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.’ ”

“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.”

“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.”