Grapes of Wrath Quotes - Study Guide

"I got the call to lead the people and no place to lead them."

"Maybe it ain't a sin. May it's just the way folks is. Maybe we been whuppin the hell out of ourselves for nothing."

"It's all part of the same thing."

"They gonna need help no preacher can give them. Hope of heaven when their lived aint lived? Holy Sperit when their own sperit is downcast and sad? They gonna need help. They got to live before before they can afford to die."

"I'm gonna pick me a wash tub full of grapes, 'an I'm gonna sit in them, an' scrooge aroun' an' let the juice run down my pants."

"We never took nothing we couldn' pay; we never suffered no man's charity."

"maybe it's all men an' all women we love; maybe that's they Holy Sperit -- the human sperit -- the whole shebang. Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of."

"if a fella's got somepin to eat an' another fella's hungry -- why, the first fella ain't got no choice."

"God know the lan' ain't no good. Nobody been able to make a crop for years. But them sons-a-bitches at their desks, they jus' chopped folks in two for their margin a profit."

"Fella like that bust the holiness. But when they're all workin' together, no one fella for another fella, but one fella kind of harnessed to the whole shebang -- that's right, they's holy."

"He was foolin', all the tim. I think he knowed it...He died the minute you took 'im off the place."

"This fella wants eight hundred men. So he prints up five thousand of them things an' maybe twenty thousand people sees 'em. An' maybe two-three thousan' folks gets movin' account at this here han'bill."

"All we got is family unbroken. Like a bunch of cows, when the loobs are ranging, stick all together, I ain't scared while we're all here...but I ain't gonna see us bust up."

"Well -- no -- them's two for a penny."

"Godalmighty, give 'em the bread."

"If he needs a million acres to make him feel rich, seems to me he needs it 'cause he feels awful poor inside himself."

"I was afraid we wouldn't get acrost..I tol' Grandma we couldn't help her. The fambly got to get acrost."

€�They say they’s three houndred thousan’ folks here, an’ I bet ever’ dam fambly seen them han bills”

€�Well, you jus’ open your trap about us folks getin’ together, an’ you’ll see. They take your pitcher an’ send it all over. Then you can’t get work nowhere”

“I can’t send ‘em away. I don’t know what to do. Take your plates an’ go inside. I’ll let them have what’s left

“I can’t send ‘em away. I don’t know what to do. Take your plates an’ go inside. I’ll let them have what’s left

€�You got to git out … You go down in the willas an’ wait. He didn’t see me kick ‘im, but he seen you stick out your foot”

“Connie wasn’ no good. I seen that a long time. Didn’ have no guts, too big for his overalls” (272). Pa

€�if it was the law they was workin’ with, why, we could take it. But in ain’t the law. They’re a-workin’ away at our spirits. They’re trying to make us cringe and crawl like a whipped bitch. They’re tryin’ to break us…. They’re working on our decency”

€�us people will go on livin’ when all them people is gone…. We’re the people that live. They ain’t gonna wipe us out. Why, we’re the people – we go on”

€�An’ now I ain’t ashamed. These folks is our folks. An’ that manager come an’ set an’ drank coffee, an’ he says, “Mrs. Joad this, and Mrs. Joad that” … – why I feel like people again”

€�We’re a-goin’ to Marysville. I don’ care what the pay is. We’re a-goin’”

€�I’m learnin’ it all the time, ever’ day …if you’re in trouble or hurt or need – go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help”

€�You don’ know what you’re doin’”

€�I’ll be all everywhere – where you look. Where’s they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Where’s they’s a cop beatin’ up[ a guy, I’ll be there….I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know suppers ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raised an’ live in houses they build – why, I’ll be there”