Helpful Quotations for Of Mice and Men“A water snake slipped along on the pool, its head help up like a little periscope.”

“The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features.”

“...dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.”

“Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes.”

“Snorting into the water like a horse.”

“So you forgot that awready, did you? I gotta tell you again, do I? Jesus Christ you’re a crazy bastard!”

“God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy.”

“Guys like us, they don’t belong no place.”

“With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.”

“Hide in the brush till I come for you. Can you remember that?”

“Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at them because he ain’t a big guy.”

“Curley says he’s keeping that hand soft for his wife.”

“George cut the cards again and put out a solitaire lay, slowly and deliberately.”

“A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up.”

“Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages.”

“She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.”

“She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward.”

“Listen to me, you crazy bastard...Don’t you even take a look at that bitch...I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her.”

“He moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty.”

“The prince of the ranch.”

“After a moment the ancient dog walked lamely through the open door.”

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

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“George said reverently... ‘I bet we could swing her’”.

“Oh Jesus Christ...and his eyes were hard and tight as wood, and his eyes were hard.”

“No... I want ya to know.”

“Course he ain’t mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so God damn dumb.”

“Candy looked a long time at Slim to try to find some reversal. And Slim gave him none. At last Candy said softly and hopelessly, ‘Awright – take ‘im’.”

“A shot sounded in the distance . The men looked quickly at the old man. Every head turned toward him.”

“I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t of let no stranger shoot my dog.”

“The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand.”

“Crooks, the negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn.”

“I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room.”

“They’ll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog.”

“Crooks saw the danger as it approached him.”

“Well you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.”

“Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice.”

“He says he was gonna put me in the movies.”

“She jerked her head sideways, and Lennie’s fingers closed on her hair and hung on.”

“...and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.”

“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.”

“ ‘I should of knew,’ George said hopelessly. ‘I guess maybe way back in my head I did.’”

“A water snake glided smoothly up the pool ... and came to the legs of a motionless heron... A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head...”

“George moved slowly after them, and his feet dragged heavily.”

“Look acrost the river, Lennie, an’ I’ll tell you so you can almost see it.”

“And George raised the gun and steadied it...he pulled the trigger...Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.”

“Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”