Of Mice and Men shows the shattered American Dream through ordinary people struggling to survive the Depression era.
This blog post examines some of the powerful quotes about dreams from this classic novel, which reflect the hope, despair, and grounded realities of the time.
Steinbeck’s skillful use of words and the depth of his understanding of human nature shine through these quotes, making them timeless and universally relatable.
Of Mice and Men Quotes With Page Numbers
Of Mice and Men Dream Quotes
“There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores, a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, The Narrator, Chapter 1, Pages 1, 2
“I remember about the rabbits, George.”
“The hell with the rabbits. That’s all you can ever remember is them rabbits.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small and George Milton, Chapter 1, Page 4
“George’s voice became deeper. He repeated his words rhythmically as though he had said them many times before. ‘Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 1, Pages 13, 14
“With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 1, Page 14
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small, Chapter 1, Page 14
“we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 1, Page 14
“An’ live off the fatta the lan’,” Lennie shouted. “An’ have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that George.”
“Why’n’t you do it yourself? You know all of it.”
“No…you tell it. It ain’t the same if I tell it. Go on…George. How I get to tend the rabbits.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small and George Milton, Chapter 1, Page 14
“We’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof – nuts!”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small and George Milton, Chapter 1, Pages 14, 15
“And these shelves were loaded with little articles, soap and talcum powder, razors and those Western magazines ranch men love to read and scoff at and secretly believe.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, the narrator, Chapter 2, Page 17
“At about ten o’clock in the morning the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows and in and out of the beam flies shot like rushing stars.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, the narrator, Chapter 2, Page 18
“If I was bright, if I was even a little bit smart, I’d have my own little place, an’ I’d be bringin’ in my own crops, ’stead of doin’ all the work and not getting what comes up outta the ground.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 3, Page 39
“I could build a smoke house like the one gran’pa had.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small, Chapter 3, Page 57
“We could live offa the fatta the lan’.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small, Chapter 3, Page 57
“All kin’s a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We’d jus’ live there. We’d belong there. There wouldn’t be no more runnin’ round the country and gettin’ fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we’d have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 3, Page 57
“An’ we’d keep a few pigeons to go flyin’ around the win’mill like they done when I was a kid.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 3, Page 58
“And it’d be our own, an’ nobody could can us. If we don’t like a guy we can say, ‘Get the hell out,’ and by God he’s got to do it. An’ if a fren’ come along, why we’d have an extra bunk, an’ we’d say, ‘Why don’t you spen’ the night?’ An’ by God he would.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 3, Page 58
“When Candy spoke they both jumped as though they had been caught doing something reprehensible. Candy said, “You know where’s a place like that?”
George was on guard immediately. “S’pose I do,” he said. “What’s that to you?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Candy and George, Chapter 3, Pages 58, 59
“I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some. How’d that be?”
George half-closed his eyes. “I gotta think about that. We was always gonna do it by ourselves.”
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.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Candy and George, Chapter 3, Page 59
“They fell into a silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, The Narrator about George and Lennie, Chapter 3, Page 60
“George said wonderingly, “S’pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing.” Old Candy nodded in appreciation of the idea. “We’d just go to her,” George said. “We wouldn’t ask nobody if we could. Jus’ say, ‘We’ll go to her,’ an’ we would. Jus’ milk the cow and sling some grain to the chickens an’ go to her.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 3, Pages 60, 61
“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’.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small, Chapter 4, Page 69
“I seen it over an’ over—a guy talkin’ to another guy and it don’t make no difference if he don’t hear or understand. The thing is, they’re talkin’, or they’re settin’ still not talkin’. It don’t make no difference, no difference. […] George can tell you screwy things, and it don’t matter. It’s just the talking. It’s just bein’ with another guy. That’s all.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 71
“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…one of ’em ever gets it.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 74
“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. Hundreds 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 … one of ‘em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out there. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land. It’s just in their head.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 74
“The stable buck went on dreamily, “I remember when I was little kid on my old man’s chicken ranch. Had two brothers. They was always near me, always there. Used to sleep right in the same room, right in the same bed – all three. Had a strawberry patch. Had an alfalfa patch. Used to turn the chickens out in the alfalfa on a sunny morning. My brothers’d set on a fence rail an’ watch ’em – white chickens they was.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 75
“He hesitated. “…If you…guys would want a hand to work for nothing – just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand. I ain’t so crippled I can’t work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 76
“I seen it happen too many times. I seen too many guys with land in their head. They never get none under their hand.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 76
“Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’thin’ that was his. Som’thin’ he could live on and there couldn’t nobody throw him off of it.”
“Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’thin’ that was his. Som’thin’ he could live on and there couldn’t nobody throw him off of it. I never had none. I planted crops for damn near ever’body in this state, but they wasn’t my crops, and when I harvested ’em, it wasn’t none of my harvest.”
John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 76
“Awright,” she said contemptuously. “Awright, cover ‘im up if ya wanta. Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you’re so damn good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus’ one, neither. An’ a guy tol’ me he could put me in pitchers…” She was breathless with indignation. ” – Sat’iday night. Ever’body out doin’ som’pin’. Ever’body! An’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs – a n***** an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep – an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife to Crooks and Lennie, Chapter 4, Page 78
“We know what we got, and we don’t care whether you know it or not.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Candy, Chapter 4, Page 79
Crooks called, “Candy!”
“Huh?”
“‘Member what I said about hoein’ and doin’ odd jobs?”
“Yeah,” said Candy. “I remember.”
“Well, jus’ forget it,” said Crooks. “I didn’ mean it. Jus’ foolin’. I wouldn’ want to go no place like that.”
“Well, O.K., if you feel like that. Goodnight.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks and Candy, Chapter 4, Page 83
“I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself.” She said darkly, “Maybe I will yet.” And then her words tumbled out in a passion of communication, as though she hurried before her listener could be taken away. “I lived right in Salinas,” she said. “Come there when I was a kid. Well, a show come through, an’ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’ let me. She says because I was on’y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I’d went, I wouldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife, Chapter 5, Page 88
“Lennie said, “George.”
“Yeah?”
“I done another bad thing.”
“It don’t make no difference,” George said, and he fell silent again.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie and George, Chapter 5, Page 91
“As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, The Narrator, Chapter 5, Page 93
“I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 5, Page 94
“Then – it’s all off?” Candy asked sulkily. George didn’t answer his question. George said, “I’ll work my month an’ I’ll take my fifty bucks an’ I’ll stay all night in some lousy cat house. Or I’ll set in some poolroom til ever’body goes home. An’ then I’ll come back an’ work another month an’ I’ll have fifty bucks more.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 5, Page 94
“Guys like us got nothing to look ahead to.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 6, Page 104
“Lennie begged, “Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now.”
“Sure right now. I gotta. We gotta.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small, Chapter 6, Page 105
Of Mice and Men American Dream Analysis
In “Of Mice and Men,” the dream theme is a recurring motif.
Central to this is George Milton and Lennie Small’s aspiration to own a small piece of land and live independently, free from the pressures and loneliness of being transient ranch workers.
This runs deep in Steinbeck’s narrative, symbolizing hope, freedom, and a sense of belonging.
They envisage a future filled with modest pleasures such as “- having a little house and a couple of acres, a cow and some pigs” (George Milton, Chapter 1, Page 14) and “- having a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens” (Lennie Small and George Milton, Chapter 1, Pages 14, 15).
Despite the harsh realities of their lives, the dream becomes a comforting placebo, a source of moral solace in desperate times.
Ultimately, this normative ideal represents an escape from the vagaries of a harsh and unforgiving world. Yet, throughout the narrative, George and Lennie’s dream seems constantly out of reach, echoing the wider societal disillusionment prevalent during the Great Depression when the novel was written.
What was Lennie’s dream in Chapter 1 Of Mice and Men?
In Chapter 1 of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” Lennie Small dreams of a life far removed from the hardships of being a migrant worker.
He envisions living off “the fatta the lan’,” owning a small house, a couple of acres, a cow, some pigs, and a plentiful vegetable patch. The numerous rabbits he hopes to tend to are central to his dream, reflecting his love and desire to care for soft creatures.
What is the dream in Chapter 3 Of Mice and Men?
George and Lennie’s dream, as expressed in Chapter 3 of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” is to achieve self-sufficiency by owning a farm.
They imagine raising livestock like cows and pigs and growing their own vegetables. They want a feeling of belonging without needing to move around for work or live in bunkhouses.
Their dream includes simple pleasures like keeping pigeons and having the liberty to invite friends to stay with them. They desire complete autonomy where they can dismiss anyone they dislike, vividly caught in their idea of telling an unwanted person to leave, and they can do so.
What is the dream in Chapter 4 Of Mice and Men?
In Chapter 4 of ‘Of Mice and Men,’ the dream centers around the aspirations of owning a piece of land and acquiring independence and freedom. Characters like George, Lennie, and Crooks express their desire to break free from exploitation and unfulfilling labor.
However, Crooks realistically points out that this dream is rarely achieved amongst migrant workers, much like their elusive strive for “The American Dream.”
What is Crooks dream quote?
“The stable buck went on dreamily, “I remember when I was little kid on my old man’s chicken ranch. Had two brothers. They was always near me, always there. Used to sleep right in the same room, right in the same bed – all three. Had a strawberry patch. Had an alfalfa patch. Used to turn the chickens out in the alfalfa on a sunny morning. My brothers’d set on a fence rail an’ watch ’em – white chickens they was.”
“He hesitated. “…If you…guys would want a hand to work for nothing – just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand. I ain’t so crippled I can’t work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 76