In Dubious Battle Quotes

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

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

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

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

“They say we play dirty, work underground. Did you ever think, London? We’ve got no guns. If anything happens to us, it don’t get in the newspapers. But if anything happens to the other side, Jesus, they smear it in ink. We’ve got no money, and no weapons, so we’ve got to use our heads, London. See that? It’s like a man with a club fighting a squad with machine guns. The only way he can do it is to sneak up and smack the gunners from behind. Maybe that isn’t fair, but hell, London, this isn’t any athletic contest. There aren’t any rules a hungry man has to follow.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“The guy’s name was Joy. He was a radical! Get it? A radical. He wanted guys like you to have enough to eat and a place to sleep where you wouldn’t get wet. He didn’t want nothing for himself. He was a radical!”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

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

“But in my little experience the end is never very different in its nature from the means. Damn it, Jim, you can only build a violent thing with violence.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

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

“Would any of you capitalists like a smoke?”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“A veces una persona adopta una postura corriente y, sin embargo parece maravillosa y se te queda grabada para toda la vida.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“No existen tales comienzos, ni tampoco fines. Me parece que el hombre se ha lanzado a una ciega y tremenda lucha para salir de un pasado que no puede recordar.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

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

“Saçını tarıyordu. Tuhaf bir şey... Bazen biri çok sıradan bir şey yaparken bile harika görünebiliyor ve bu da insanın aklından çıkmıyor hayat boyu.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“İnsan... biri hariç, karşılaştığı her engeli, her düşmanı yendi. Kendini yenemedi. Nasıl nefret etmesinden kendinden.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“Bir keresinde grev gözcülüğü yaparken kırmışlardı çenesini. Bir hücreye koydular onu. Ona bakmaya doktor geldi. 'Lanet bir kızılı tedavi etmem,' dedi. Orada o kırık çeneyle yattı. Tehlikeli biriydi... sizin gibi insanların yeterince yiyeceğe kavuşmasını istemişti.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“İnsanlardan nefret bile etmediğini gördüğün zaman şaşıracaksın. Neden böyledir bilmiyorum ama çoğunlukla böyle olur.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“Dediğine göre adam biraz çatlakmış. İnanmaksızın sadece bilmek istediğini söylerdi.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“Don't think of it. It's just a little part of the whole thing. Sympathy is as bad as fear. That was like a doctor's work. It was an operation, that's all.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“tell you, a mob with something it wants to do is just about as efficient as trained soldiers, but tricky. They’ll knock that barricade, but then what? They’ll want to do something else before they cool off.” And he went on, “That’s right, what you said. It is a big animal. It’s different from the men in it. And it’s stronger than all the men put together. It doesn’t want the same things men want—it’s like Doc said—and we don’t know what it’ll do.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“Jim said, “It’s something that grows out of a fight like this. Suddenly you feel the great forces at work that create little troubles like this strike of ours. And the sight of those forces does something to you, picks you up and makes you act. I guess that’s where authority comes from.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“Jim said softly, “I wanted you to use me. You wouldn’t because you got to like me too well.” He stood up and walked to a box and sat down on it. “That was wrong. Then I got hurt. And sitting here waiting, I got to know my power. I’m stronger than you, Mac. I’m stronger than anything in the world, because I’m going in a straight line. You and all the rest have to think of women and tobacco and liquor and keeping warm and fed.” His eyes were as cold as wet river stones. “I wanted to be used. Now I’ll use you, Mac. I’ll use myself and you. I tell you, I feel there’s strength in me.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“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 forsee nor understand. And man has met and defeated every obstacle, every enemy except one. He cannot win over himself. How mankind hates itself.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“Mac,” he said, “you’re the craziest mess of cruelty and haus-frau sentimentality, of clear vision and rose-colored glasses I ever saw. I don’t know how you manage to be all of them at once.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“Don’t you get lost in a lot of sentimental foolishness. There’s an end to be gained; it’s a real end, hasn’t anything to do with people losing respect. It’s people getting bread into their guts. It’s real, not any of your high-falutin’ ideas.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

“Mac, who in hell are these vigilantes, anyway? What kind of guys are they?” “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. But they’re just the old nigger torturers working.”
― John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle