“We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.”

“Well, every little boy thinks he invented sin. Virtue we think we learn, because we are told about it. But sin is our own designing.”

“We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.”

“in 50 years, did you ever have a vacation, you little, silly, half-pint, smidgin of a wife?”

“There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do.”

“If we could learn to like ourselves, even a little, maybe our cruelties and angers might melt away.”

“Lennie said quietly, "It ain't no lie. We're gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an' live on the fatta the lan'.”