Of Mice and Men quotations

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George

"Small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features" 

"Every part of him was defined" 

"You crazy fool" - to Lennie

"You crazy son-of-a-*****. You keep me in hot water all the time" - said to Lennie 

"He's sure a hell of a good worker. Strong as a bull" 

"Jesus what a tramp" - about Curley's wife

"Bet she'd clear out for twenty bucks" - about Curley's wife

"She's a rat trap if I ever saw one" - about Curley's wife

"She's a ********* all set on the trigger" - about Curley's wife

"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 ain't got nothing to look ahead to" - loneliness and solitude

"with us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us" - companionship 

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Lennie

"a huge man shapeless of face" 

"he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags its paws" 

"drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse"

"I don't want no trouble" 

"I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why" - Lennie quoting George

"He's gonna let me tend the rabbits" 

"An' live off the fatta the lan'..... an' have rabbits" - immersed in the dream

"I di'n't forget, you bet, God damn. Hide in the brush an' wait for George" - proud of himself

"Lennie giggled with happiness" - end of novel, reminded of dream

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Curley

"a head of tightly curled hair" - showing his temper is coiled like a spring ready to explode

"His glance was at once calculating and pugnacious"

"Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrior" 

"The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line" 

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Curley's Wife

"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 instep of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers."

"She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door rame so that her body was thrown forwards" 

"And the meanness and the planning and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly." - being described after her death 

"Listen, ******... you know what I can do to you if you open your trap... I could get you strung up on a tree so wasy it ain't even funny." - to Crooks

"I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely" - to Lennie

"I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to anybody?" - gets reader to sympathise and pity her

"I coulda made somethin' of myself... Maybe I will yet" 

"I don't like Curley. He ain't a nice fella." - shows marriage is failing

"You're nuts... jus' like a big baby"

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Slim

"He moved with majesty only achived by royalty and master crafts men" 

"He was a jerkline, skinner, the prince of the ranch" 

"The dirty little rat" - about Curley

"Ain't mant guys travel around together, I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other" - about loneliness and solitude

"It jus' seems jinda funny a cuckoo like him and a smart little guy like you travellin' together" 

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The Boss

"He wore high-heeled boots and spurs to prove he was not a labouring man" 

"I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy." - the boss finding it hard to understand the relationship between Lennie and George

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Crooks

"Crooks was a proud, aloof man."

"He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs." 

"His body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine, and his eyes lat deep in his head, and because of their depth seemed to glitter with intensity." 

"I can't play because I'm black" 

"Well, go see your pup, then. Don't come in a place where you're not wanted." - to Lennie

"I seen guys nearly crazy with loneliness for land, but ever' time a whore house or blackjack game took what it takes." 

"You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me." 

"A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody"

"Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself... Crooks had reduced himself to nothing."

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Other key quotations

"Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin' them two guys?" - Carlson is insensitive and doesn't understand the responsibility George had to look after Lennie and the friendship they shared. 

"This ol' dog jus' suffers hisself all the time. If you was to take him out and shoot him right in the back of the head. He'd never know what hit him" - Carlson to Candy

"You ain't bein' kind to him keepin' him alive" - Carlson to Candy about his dog.

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