Of Mice and Men Quotes

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Source: Of Mice and Men

Author: John Steinbeck

"Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’."

"You're nuts." Crooks was scornful. "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. 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. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but it's jus' in their head."

Context


We're in Chapter 4 of Of Mice and Men, and we're starting to realize why Crooks doesn't have any friends: no one likes a Negative Nancy. But Crooks knows what he's talking about. George and Lennie aren't the first ones to have the American Dream, and they're not going to be the first who don't get it.

Where you've heard it

Every party has a pooper. That's why we invited you, party pooper.

(That's a different George.)

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Stomping all over people's dreams isn't gonna win you any brownie points.