Quotes from In Dubious Battle

John Steinbeck ·  304 pages

Rating: (9.6K votes)


“Out of all this struggle a good thing is going to grow. That makes it worthwhile.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle


“I want to see the whole picture - as nearly as I can. I don’t want to put on the blinders of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and limit my vision. If I used the term ‘good’ on a thing I’d lose my license to inspect it, because there might be bad in it. Don’t you see? I want to be able to look at the whole thing.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle


“Sometimes I think you realists are the most sentimental people in the world.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle


“Mostly I’m too damn busy to know how I feel.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle


“I don’t mind getting smacked on the chin. I just don’t want to get nibbled to death. There’s a difference.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle



“Why, they're the dirtiest guys in any town. They're the same ones that burned the houses of old German people during the war. They're the same ones that lynch Negroes. They like to be cruel. They like to hurt people, and they always give it a nice name, patriotism or protecting the constitution.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle


“It’s funny how you want to do a thing and never do it.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle


“It seems to me that man has engaged in a blind and fearful struggle out of a past he can't remember, into a future he can't foresee nor understand. And man has met and defeated every obstacle, every enemy except one. He cannot win over himself. How mankind hates himself.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle


“The doctor said softly, “Sometimes I think you realists are the most sentimental people in the world.”
― John Steinbeck, quote from In Dubious Battle


About the author

John Steinbeck
Born place: in Salinas Valley, California, The United States
Born date February 27, 1902
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Alone, i am nothing. i have nothing.we have power.but we will never know it,we will never see it work.unless we come together to make it work.”
― Ayi Kwei Armah, quote from The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born


“Bazen Polonya'daki nefret miktarını düşündüğümde çimenlerin hala yeşil kalabilmelerine, ağaçların hala dallarını gökyüzüne uzatabilmelerine şaşırıyordum.
Ama uzatıyorlardı. Savaşla ilgili en büyük ironilerden biri de bu, insanın inana sırt çevirdiği yerde bile doğa başkaldırmıyordu. Çok güzel bahar günlerinde geçen kabuslar yaşıyordum: Kuşlar daldan dala atlayıp böcekleri avlarken, diğer kuşlarla cilveleşirken diğer tarafta yerde, çamur içinde küçük çocuklar ölü yatıyorlardı.”
― Irene Gut Opdyke, quote from In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer


“The mountains are as I have always remembered them, the first light of the morning melting down their flanks.”
― Tan Twan Eng, quote from The Garden of Evening Mists


“The Lord is constantly teaching us. I know He has me in His right pocket and I’m very safe there. I love to see Him really work in my life, and I know He’ll use me in His due time.”
― quote from The Vow


“Ethan chuckled. “And are you aware you keep looking over here like you’re nervous I’m going to disappear?”

“It’s because you’re devastatingly handsome.”

He grinned slyly. “I wasn’t questioning your good taste.”
― Chloe Neill, quote from Biting Cold


Interesting books

The Wake
(37.7K)
The Wake
by Neil Gaiman
Forward the Foundation
(36.7K)
Forward the Foundati...
by Isaac Asimov
Immortal Rider
(16K)
Immortal Rider
by Larissa Ione
Sword & Citadel
(9.4K)
Sword & Citadel
by Gene Wolfe
Born Wicked
(14.7K)
Born Wicked
by Jessica Spotswood
The Auschwitz Escape
(10.3K)
The Auschwitz Escape
by Joel C. Rosenberg

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.