Of Mice and Men key quotes

• Curley

  - Shows his temperament for the beginning

  "He glanced coldly... calculating and pugnacious"
• Crooks

  - Realises his place in society

  "This is just a niger talkin', an' a-busted-back niger. So it don't mean nothing, see?"

  
  

  "I didn' mean it. Jus' follin. I wouldn' want to go no place like that"

  
  

  "You guy's comin in an settin made me forget. What she say's is true"
• Candy

  - Loneliness


  "When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me."
• Candy

  - Doesn't want to show weakness as he is crying: Loneliness

  "He rolled slowly over and faced the wall"
• Slim

  - Hugely respected

  "The prince of the ranch"

  
  

  ''Doesn't need to wear no high heel boots''

  
  

  ''Moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen''

  
  

  ''There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke''

  
  

  "Slims opinions were law"
• Slim

  - Support for George


  "You hadda, George. I swear you hadda..."
• Curley

  - Lack of respect for his wife and he likes to show her of

  ''Glove fulla vaseline''

  
  

  "Curly says he's keeping that hand soft for his wife"
• Candy

  - Expresses his emotion towards Curly's wife body

  "You God dam tramp"
• Candy's dog

  - Disabled

  "blind old eyes"
• Crookes

  - Prejudice


  "I can't play with the others because I'm black"

  
  

  "The stable buck's a niger"

  
  

  "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain't wanted in my room"
• Crookes

  - Description, proud despite his ethnicity

  "Proud aloof man"
• Crookes

  - He is treated like an animal; prejudice

  "bunk was a long box filled with straw"
• Curley's Wife

  - No love


  "I don't like Curley"
• George

  - Parental role for Lennie

  "His name's Lennie Small"

  
  

  "George says I gotta stay here and not get in no trouble."

  
  

  "Even in the open one stayed behind the other"
• George

  - Showing how travellers are lonely but "not us"

  "loneliest guys in the world"
• Candy

  - Gives an insight to the loneliness of a ranch member

  "A guy on a ranch don't never listen nor he don't ast no questions."
• Candy

  - Desperation for freedom

  "I'd make a will an' leave my share to you guys
• Candy

  - Shows he has no time to think about his dogs future, the blood thirsty Carlson did it himself

  "I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog."
• Candy

  - Only friends

  "Best damn sheep dog I ever seen"

  
  

  "But I've has him since he was a pup"
• Curley

  - Aggressive


  "He hates big guys. He's alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he's mad at 'em because he ain't a big guy"

  
  

  "his hands closed into fists"
• George

  - Friendship with Lennie

  "Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy."

  
  

  "I've got you to look after me and you've got me to look after you"

  
  

  "We got each other, that's what, that gives a hoot in hell about us"

  
  

  "We kinda look after each other"
• Slim

  - Ruthless


  "I drowned 4 of em right off"
• Crookes

  - Disability


  "Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him. The boss gives him hell when he's mad"
• Curley

  - Description

  "a thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly curled hair. He wore a glove on his left hand, and like the boss, he wore high-heeled boots"
• Slim

  - Expresses his feeling of isolation

  "Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other"
• Slim


  "A guy don't need no sense to be a nice fella"
• Carlson


  "I don't know nothing that stinks as bad as an old dog. You gotta get him out"
• Crookes

  - Loneliness


  "I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick"

  
  

  ''A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody
• Carlson

  - Sad reality of a ranch member

  "Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin them two guys"
• Crookes

  - Wisdom


  "They don't have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin' to fight all the time."

  
  

  "Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land."
• George abusing Lennie


  "Used to play jokes on 'im 'cause he was too dumb to take care of 'imself.
• Words to describe Curley's wife.

  "tart" -Candy

  "She's a rat trap if I ever seen one." - George

  "what a tramp" - George
• Crooks on loneliness.


  "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody."
• Candy on his old age.

  "they'll can me purty soon . Jus' as soon as I can't swamp out no bunk houses."
• Curley's wife threatens Crooks.

  "N***er. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny."
• Robert Burns' poem.


  "The best laid plans of mice and men

  Gang aft agley" (often go wrong)
• George and Lennie dream of living of the...

  "fatta the lan" - Lennie
• George's anger at looking after Lennie.

  "God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want."
• Crooks explains his segregation from the other ranch hands.

  "Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black"
• Slim on George and Lennie's relationship.


  "funny how you an' him string along together."