Of Mice and Men Quotes

- 'I could live so easily.'  Here we see the friendship between George and Lennie and the difference between their relationship and those of the ranch hands.

- 'I could stay in a cat house all night.' Here we get a real insight into the lives of the ranch hands and the lives of Lennie and George.

- ' We got a future.' The first signs of the main theme 'The American Dream' come through here as we see that George and Lennie want to strive towards a better life than one of a ranch hand.

- 'We got somebody to talk to.'  The companionship between George and Lennie is very unusual in the time period of this book and the fact that they have each other makes them unique. Other characters such as Carlson, Slim,Candy and Crooks all represent the theme of loneliness and friendship in some way.

- 'Don't even take a look at that *****.' Various messages displayed in this quote, for example, sense of prejudice as George judges Curleys wife right from the start by looking at the way she acts. Sense of foreshadowing comes through as he is obviously trying to stop Lennie from becoming attracted to her as it might lead to a similar event to the one in Weed.

- 'Get um Lennie, don't let him do it.' George has a sense of parental control over Lennie as he orders him to retaliate during the fight with Curley. This shows that George could not face seeing Lennie get hurt as he has a strong friendship with him and feels a responsibility over him.

- 'You crazy-son-of-a-*****.' here we see the frustrations of George living with Lennie, showing that he sticks by him despite Lennie constantly getting into trouble.

- 'Hide in the brush till I come for you.' this is a huge quote in the novel as straight from the start it shows that things are going to go wrong for Lennie and George.

- 'Made me seem goddamn smart alongside of him.' here George opens up to Slim about Lennie ,  which not only shows Georges relationship with Lennie but shows how Slim understands their friendship.

- 'We got eachother'. this quote is pretty self explanatory as it shows the companionship even at the end when George kills Lennie.

- 'I never been mad.' This shows that although Lennie is frustrating, George never really wanted to split from Lennie.

- George tells Lennie to 'hide in the brush' look at George section for explanation.

- 'Make 'um stop George.' The parental relationship is displayed by this as Lennie looks to George for help , almost like a child wanting their mother.

- 'Smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends.' Lennie tries to make friends with Crooks which represents the theme of friendship but also shows how the prejudice has brought the 'bindle bums' together.

- 'Gonna let me tend the rabbits.' Here we see Lennie's dream within his and Georges dream of owning a farm and being self sufficient. The fact that they have a dream together in itself shows the companionship between the two.

- 'Don't go yellin' he said, and he shook her.' The violent side of Lennie is shown here as he kills Curleys wife, but his innocence is also shown as he doesn't realise she is dead.

- 'I done another bad thing.' The list of bad things is endless and this is the moment in which the american dream comes in to play again as he has shattered Candy, George, Curleys wife and his own dream.

- 'Me an' you.' Even when Lennie has done a bad thing, he still knows that George is there for him, and he is with George at the start and at the end.

- 'Le's do it now. Le's get that place now.' George makes Lennie think about the dream before he dies, Lennie carries his dream till the end.

- 'I can see Lennie ain't a bit mean.' It is evident that Slim has a great understanding of Lennie and George's relationship whereas characters such as Carlson only believe that is it for exploitive reasons.

- 'Slim asked calmly.' Here we get a real sense of Slims personality and how he has a way about him when he is inviting George to offload onto him.

- 'You lay off me.' Slim says this to Curley which brings in the element of conflict into play as Curley as this issue with Slim about status within the ranch as he accuses Slim of being with his wife.

- 'You hadda George, I swear you hadda.' Slims qualities come through here as he knows that George needs comforting and reassurance in killing Lennie.

- 'A guy got to sometimes.' Slims understanding is shown yet again as he knows what George had to do and understands what he is going through.

- 'That ain't no good George.' Slim puts shooting Lennies into Georges mind as he knows that Lennie would suffer in jail.

- 'Slim's opinions were law.' Slim has power and control over the ranch due to the respect he gets.

- 'Maybe you better stay here with your wife.' Slim suggests this to Curley in an attempt to stop Curley from shooting Lennie in the gut.

-'Majesty', 'Royalty', 'Authority', 'Prince', 'Tall'

-'I think you got your han' caught in a machine.' Slim takes control of the situation after the fight, showing his power.

- 'I ought to of shot that dog myself.' In resemblance of Lennie and Georges companionship, Candy felt he had a responsibility over his dog.

- 'Let no stranger shoot my dog.' Showing that the ranch hands are not his friends and he prejudice made him powerless.

- 'Bindle bum.' Prime example of prejudice as Lennie, Candy and Crooks are all classed as the 'bindle bums'

- 'Tell ya what Lennie I been figuring out about those rabbits.' Candy shares the dream with Lennie and George as it is a way out of  life of prejudice.

- 'S'pose I went in with you guys.' Candy sees his opportunity to achieve his dream.

- 'They left all the weak ones here.' Here we see how Curleys wife is prejudice but is also subject to it so she tries to maintain power over people lower in the ranch hierarchy.

- 'Think i don't like to talk to somebody.' We see the softer side of her, the theme of friendship and loneliness come into play here as she has a lonely existence which leads to her craving attention and therefore being referred to as a 'tart'.

- 'Bindle bums.'

- '*********.'

- 'I coulda made somethin' of myself.' Here we see Curleys wifes dream of being a hollywood actress.

- 'I don't like Curley. He aint a nice fella.' She married out of spite for her mother as she blames her for her failure to be in Hollywood so she has married into a life of oppression.

- 'This guy says i was a natural.' She only had the false hop put into her so the man she met could sleep with her, her dream was unrealistic.

- 'Your kinda a nice fella.' Here we can see the real her as she shows the theme of friendship and how lonely she is.

- 'So I married Curley.' This quote gives a sense of rebellion against her mother and how she made a big mistake marrying Curley.

- 'You go on get outta my room.' Because Lennie is inferior to him intellectually, Crooks feels this sense of power that he never has because of his race so he therefore takes advantage of this and is mean to Lennie. Also, the fact that Lennie is not welcome in the barn shows that Crooks is trying to hang on to the only property he has.

- 'Don't come in a place where you're not wanted.' Yet again Crooks is expressing this power over Lennie.

- 'They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black.' This shows the racism that he is subject to at the ranch and displays the social beliefs at the time of the book.

- 'Who hurt George?' By Lennie demanding this it shows that Crooks has hurt him by trying to keep a bit of power.

- 'I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.' Loneliness and prejudice are shown here as he has nobody to talk to due to the racism in the ranch.

- 'An' never a Goddamn one of em gets it.' Crooks reinforces the sense of foreshadowing as he knows that the American Dream is unlikely.

- 'Got a piece of land in his head.'

- 'They never get none under their hand.' He doesn't think it is possible to get the dream.

- 'Why I'd come an' lend a hand.' Showing that he also has a dream and he sees it as a way out of the prejudice on the ranch like Candy.

- 'Well, next time you answer when you're spoken to.' He tries to implement some control as he tries to make up for his lack of height in respect but chooses to get it through fighting which is the opposite to Slim.

- 'Come on, ya big *******.' He picks on bigger people to gain respect as he has this dream of being the alpha male on the ranch.

- 'No big son-of-a-***** is gonna laugh at me.' There is a pattern as he always uses conflict, you never see another side of Curley.

- His wife says 'I don't like Curley.' Suggesting that he is lonely as well.

- 'I'm gonna shoot the guts outta that big ******* myself.' Yet again the issue of size comes into it and he is more bothered about regaining his pride by getting revenge for his hand than worrying about his wife.

- 'Lets get it over with.' He doesn't understand companionship, so he manages the shooting of Candy's dog in a very selfish manner.

- 'Now what the hell ya suppose is eating them two guys?' Yet again he doesn't understand what George has just been through when sooting Lennie due to his lack of friendship.

- 'How'd you do it?' He asks George this question expecting that George will be proud of the way in which he shot Lennie as characters like Carlson and Curley would have regarded it almost as a trophy.