Quotes From 'Of Mice And Men'

Loneliness:

“Candy interrupted him, ‘I'd make a will an' leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, 'cause I ain't got no relatives nor nothing. You guys got any money? Maybe we could do her right now?’” Page 59

"You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me. But they won't do nothing like that. I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get no more jobs. I'll have thirty dollars more comin', time you guys is ready to quit." Page 60

“He whined, ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya," he cried, "I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.’" Page 72-73
“She knelt in the hay beside him.
‘Listen,’ she said. ‘All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin' on. It's on'y about four o'clock. None of them guys is goin' to leave that tenement. Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.’” Page 86

Loyalty:

"’If you don' want me I can go off in the hills an' find a cave. I can go away any time.’ ‘No- look! I was jus' foolin', Lennie. 'Cause I want you to stay with me. Trouble with mice is you always kill 'em.’ He paused. ‘Tell you what I'll do, Lennie. First chance I get I'll give you a pup. Maybe you wouldn't kill it. That'd be better than mice. And you could pet it harder.’” Page 13

"’Sure,’ said George. ‘I seen plenty tough little guys. But this Curley better not make no mistakes about Lennie. Lennie ain't handy, but this Curley punk is gonna get hurt if he messes around with Lennie.’" Page 26

“Lennie stood over him. ‘What you supposin' for? Ain't nobody goin' to suppose no hurt to George.’ Crooks removed his glasses and wiped his eyes with his fingers. ‘Jus' set down,’ he said. ‘George ain't hurt.’ Lennie growled back to his seat on the nail keg. ‘Ain't nobody goin' to talk no hurt to George,’ he grumbled.” Page
73

“Lennie got up on his knees. ‘You ain't gonna leave me, are ya, George? I know you ain't.’ George came stiffly near and sat down beside him. ‘No.’ ‘I knowed it,’ Lennie cried. ‘You ain't that kind.’" Page 103

Hopes and Dreams:

“Lennie said, ‘Tell about that place, George.’ ‘I jus' tol' you, jus' las' night.’ ‘Go on- tell again, George.’ ‘Well, it's ten acres,’ said George.
‘Got a little win'mill. Got a little shack on it, an' a chicken run. Got a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples, peaches, 'cots, nuts, got a few berries. They's a place for alfalfa and plenty water to flood it. They's a pig pen-’ ‘An' rabbits, George.’” Page 57

"’Sure, we'd have a little house an' a room to ourself. Little fat iron stove, an' in the winter we'd keep a fire goin' in it. It ain't enough land so we'd have to work too hard. Maybe six, seven hours a day. We wouldn't have to buck no barley eleven hours a day. An' when we put in a crop, why, we'd be there to take the crop up. We'd know what come of our planting.’" Page 58

“Candy smiled. ‘I got it figured out. We can make some money on them rabbits if we go about it right.’ ‘But I get to tend 'em,’ Lennie broke in. ‘George says I get to tend 'em. He promised.’" Page 75

"’Coulda been in the movies, an' had nice clothes- all them nice clothes like they wear. An' I coulda sat in them big hotels, an' had pitchers took of me. When they had them previews I coulda went to them, an' spoke in the radio, an' it wouldn'ta cost me a cent because I was in the pitcher. An' all them nice clothes like they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural.’" Page
88

"’We'll have a cow,’ said George. ‘An' we'll have maybe a pig an' chickens... an' down the flat we'll have a... little piece alfalfa-’ ‘For the rabbits,’ Lennie shouted. ‘For the rabbits,’ George repeated. ‘And I get to tend the rabbits.’ ‘An' you get to tend the rabbits.’ Lennie giggled with happiness. ‘An' live on the fatta the lan'” Page 105

Social exclusion/Isolation:

“‘...Now look-I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a word. You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing. If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won't get no job, but if he sees ya work before he hears ya talk, we're set. Ya got that?’" Page 6

"’Let the big guy talk.’ Lennie twisted with embarrassment. George said, ‘S'pose he don't want to talk?’" Page 25

"’I seen plenty of 'em. Like the old guy says, Curley don't take no chances. He always wins.’" He thought for a moment. ’If he tangles with you, Lennie, we're gonna get the can. Don't make no mistake about that. He's the boss's son. Look, Lennie. You try to keep away from him, will you? Don't never speak to him. If he comes in here you move clear to the other side of the room. Will you do that, Lennie?’" Page 29

"Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outa my room. I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain't wanted in my room." "Why ain't you wanted?" Lennie asked. "'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me." Page 68

"You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to anybody?" Page 87