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This article will present and analyze some of the most important quotes in John Steinbeck鈥檚 Of Mice and Men (OMAM). I鈥檓 embarrassed to admit that I knew only the barest outline of the plot of OMAM (Lennie, George, bunnies?, maybe murder?). Having just finished reading it, I鈥檓 not going to lie 鈥� it鈥檚 depressing. (Here鈥檚 a summary if you need it.) George and Lennie are struggling against forces far beyond themselves and it鈥檚 no surprise that the world grinds them down to powder. At the same time, there are moments in the novel shot through with transcendent beauty and hope.聽

Also check out our Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions and our Of Mice and Men Summary.

While there are some PDFs of the text online, I鈥檓 using the Penguin Modern Classics version.聽

7 Most Important Of Mice and Men Quotes

1) 鈥淎 few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool.鈥� (1)

These are the first two sentences of the text. You might wonder why I鈥檝e chosen to include them here, seeing as how they do absolutely nothing to advance the plot of the book. First and foremost, I was shocked by the beauty of this first passage. While I was vaguely familiar with the plot of the book, I did not expect Steinbeck鈥檚 language to be so ungodly beautiful.聽

More concretely, I was taken aback by the present tense of this first paragraph. For me, this narrative choice does a couple of things. Most importantly, it situates the events of the novel as taking place in a kind of 鈥渆ternal present.鈥� As a reader, whatever comes after this paragraph has a gloss of universal significance. (It also reminds me of the present-tense moments in 惭辞谤谤颈蝉辞苍鈥檚 Beloved.)听

Of Mice and Men Book Quotes (Continued)

Secondly, it feels important that this first paragraph describes the natural world. This natural world exists in marked contrast to the world of men that dominates the rest of the book. The world of men is cruel 鈥� capitalism, racism, and sexism combine to make the world a lonely place for its inhabitants. By way of contrast, the eternal present of nature exists as a deep well of beauty that offers some respite to George and Lennie (and to the reader).聽

2) 鈥淕eorge鈥檚 voice became deeper鈥︹�楪uys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don鈥檛 belong no place鈥�They ain鈥檛 got nothing to look ahead to鈥�With us it ain鈥檛 like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.鈥�

Lennie broke in. 鈥�But not us! An鈥� why? Because鈥�because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that鈥檚 why.鈥欌�� (15)

This quote appears in scene one, just after we鈥檝e met George and Lennie. We鈥檝e heard a bit about what brought them here (trouble in Weed) and seen George鈥檚 frustration at having to take care of Lennie. After having yelled at Lennie, George is feeling conciliatory. Lennie asks him to tell him the story of how they鈥檒l get their own place and live 鈥渙ff the fat of the land.鈥�

Of Mice and Men Book Quotes (Continued)

While their dream of owning a farm is important, more important is their belief in the importance of their relationship. Faced with an economic structure that engenders loneliness, atomization, and brutal competition, Lennie and George have created a relationship that gives meaning and purpose to both of their lives. Without that, each of them would be just like those men who sit in bars 鈥渂ecause [they] got no place else to be鈥� (15).聽聽

3) 鈥淎nd these shelves were loaded with little articles鈥�and those Western magazines ranch men love to read and scoff at and secretly believe.鈥� (19)听

This quote is the perfect distillation of how the text critiques the dominant mode of American masculinity. When George and Lennie arrive at the ranch, they make their way to the bunkhouse to drop off their stuff. The narrator lingers on the various personal belongings that the men keep on their shelves. Each man is in the same downtrodden situation. And each man hopes that someday he will measure up to the Western masculine ideal. What makes this particularly poignant is that while the men 鈥渟coff at鈥� the ideal of masculinity, they have been provided no replacement. The Great Depression has taken away so much from these men, but nothing has replaced the images of cowboys and Indians of their youths.聽

4)听鈥淎 tall man stood in the doorway鈥�When he had finished combing his hair he moved into the room, and he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen. He was a jerkline skinner, the prince of the ranch鈥�There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke鈥�This was Slim, the jerkline skinner. His hatchet face was ageless鈥�His hands, large and lean, were as delicate in their action as those of a temple dancer.鈥� (37-38)

For me, this is the weirdest moment in the book. Up to this point, the narrator hasn鈥檛 been too overtly present 鈥� and then, BAM! 鈥� we get this description of Slim (who, if you didn鈥檛 catch it, is the jerkline skinner). I鈥檓 not sure exactly what to say about this moment, but I鈥檓 pretty sure the narrator is in love with Slim. (I would place this moment in what )

This isn鈥檛 the only queer moment in the text. Both Curley and Slim comment on George and Lennie鈥檚 unique relationship. (In a particularly strange moment, when George tells Curley 鈥淲e travel together,鈥� Curley says 鈥淥h, so it鈥檚 that way,鈥� which I read as implying that Curley thinks George and Lennie are romantically involved.)听

Of Mice and Men Book Quotes (Continued)

The other moment that stands out comes at the end of the novel, after George kills Lennie. When the men arrive and see George next to Lennie鈥檚 body, Slim comes to comfort George. We read, 鈥淪lim came directly to George and sat down beside him, sat very close to him. 鈥楴ever you mind,鈥� said Slim. 鈥楢 guy got to sometimes.鈥欌�� The tenderness of this moment, coupled with the earlier description of Slim, suggests, at the very least, a queerness to the text that should not be overlooked.聽

5) 鈥淓verybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus鈥� som鈥檛hin鈥� that was his. Somethin鈥� he could live on and there couldn鈥檛 be nobody to throw him off of it. I never had none. I planted crops for damn near ever鈥檅ody in this state, but they weren鈥檛 my crops, and when I harvested 鈥榚m, it wasn鈥檛 none of my harvest.鈥澛�

Candy utters this line when he鈥檚 talking about the dream of buying a house with George and Lennie. While it鈥檚 clear that capitalism comes in for some pretty harsh criticism in Steinbeck鈥檚 novels, this is the clearest critique of wage labor in OMAM. Candy (like all workers) relies on wage labor for survival. He鈥檚 already lost one of his hands and he knows that once he is unable to work, he will be cast aside. To paraphrase Marx, wage labor has reduced his existence to the level of animal survival.聽

6) 鈥淪he turned on him in scorn鈥︹�業 could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain鈥檛 even funny.鈥欌�� (91)

In the fourth scene, Curley鈥檚 wife has come down to Crooks鈥� small room beside the barn. All the rest of the men have gone to town (brothel), and she鈥檚 lonely in the house by herself. Lennie and Candy are there too, talking about bunnies. As the only black man on the ranch, Crooks is uniquely lonely. When Curley鈥檚 wife starts to flirt with Lennie (鈥淲ell if that鈥檚 all you want, I might get a couple rabbits myself.鈥�), Crooks tries to kick her out of his room. This is where the unspoken racial hierarchy flares to life. As a woman, Curly鈥檚 wife has very little power on the ranch. At the same time, as a white woman, one word from her and Crooks will be lynched.

7) 鈥淎nd the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her rouged cheeks and reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly鈥�As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much more than a moment.鈥� (105)

This is one of those moments where the narrator seems to press 鈥減ause.鈥� Lennie has just killed Curley鈥檚 wife and fled. In this brief moment, before anyone has found her body, there is a moment of peace.聽

Two things strike me about this moment. First is the fact that death brings more peace than Curley鈥檚 wife has ever known. As she describes it to Lennie, her life was a series of failures 鈥� she says more than once that she could have been in 鈥減itchers.鈥� However, in death, she reverts to some prelapsarian calm. Where she was mean and discontented, she is now pretty, sweet, and young. The make-up that marred her innocence now seems to keep her vibrant and alive.聽聽

Of Mice and Men Book Quotes (Continued)

The second thing that strikes me is that the narrator literally stops time (no small thing). It is certainly not the case that time actually stopped 鈥� and yet, the narrator insists that time itself slows to a crawl. For me, this is a weird narrative flex. Does the death of Curley鈥檚 wife have that much narrative power? Why can the only woman in the story be pretty only in death? What about violence makes time stop?聽

Of Mice and Men Quotes – Wrapping Up聽

Steinbeck is credited as saying that the problem with America is that 鈥�鈥� I would argue that OMAM belies this claim. George, Lennie, and Crooks know exactly what they are 鈥� expendable labor to be discarded as soon as their bodies give out. While George, Lennie, and Candy dream of something better, their dream is modest. They simply want to have enough land to not have to labor for someone else鈥檚 profit. While Lennie and George might not have the theoretical framework to declare themselves proletarians, they understand the inherent exploitation of the system under which they labor.聽

If you鈥檝e found this article useful or interesting, you can also check out my summaries and analyses of 1984, Frankenstein, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, The Crucible, Beloved, Brave New World, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Macbeth, and Jane Eyre.