Of Mice And Men Quotes

Studied for Junior Cycle English exam years 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030.

These Of Mice and Men quotes are grouped by who says them and by what they prove. Learn six of them properly rather than twenty badly. A short line you can explain will always beat a long line you copied out and left sitting there. Each quote below is followed by one sentence telling you what it proves and when to reach for it. The novel is short and John Steinbeck repeats his key lines, so the same quote often covers two different questions.

George and Lennie, and why they travel together

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Start here. Every other theme in the book bounces off this pair.

“Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly.”
Narrator, describing Lennie beside George, in Chapter 1.

Eight words that show the whole relationship, because Lennie has no way of deciding anything for himself.

“We got a future. We got somebody to talk to”
George, answering his own speech about lonely men, in Chapter 1.

Use this when a question asks what George gets out of the friendship, because here he says it plainly.

“You tol’ me to, George”
Lennie, after crushing Curley’s hand, in Chapter 3.

Lennie does not stop until he is told to stop, which is where the question of blame actually sits.

The dream of the little place

The farm is the hope the book keeps offering and then taking back.

“An’ live off the fatta the lan'”
Lennie, finishing George’s description of the farm, in Chapter 1.

The most quotable line in the book, and worth using early in any answer about hope.

“They looked at one another, amazed.”
Narrator, after Candy offers his savings, in Chapter 3.

The word amazed proves they never really believed in the farm, so reach for it when you date the moment it turns solid.

“Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much.”
Candy, explaining the farm to Crooks, in Chapter 4.

Candy makes the dream small and practical, which is your best evidence that it is about safety rather than money.

Candy, the dog and the shotgun

This scene is a rehearsal for the last chapter. Notice the timing.

“a dragfooted sheepdog, gray of muzzle”
Narrator, introducing Candy’s old dog, in Chapter 2.

The dog is described the way Candy later describes himself, so quote it when you link the two shootings.

“Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?”
Carlson, pressing Candy in the bunkhouse, in Chapter 3.

The moral code of the ranch sits inside that one question, because anything that stops being useful gets disposed of.

“I ought to of shot that dog myself, George.”
Candy, lying on his bunk afterwards, in Chapter 3.

George remembers this line at the end, so it is the best quote for explaining why he does the shooting himself.

Crooks in the harness room

Crooks only appears properly in Chapter 4, so every line he gets has to work hard.

“I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink.”
Crooks, explaining his room to Lennie, in Chapter 4.

Open any paragraph on racism with this, because Crooks states the rule of the ranch without dressing it up.

“A guy needs somebody to be near him.”
Crooks, talking to Lennie in the harness room, in Chapter 4.

Eight plain words that carry the loneliness theme, and short enough to drop inside a sentence of your own.

“I didn’t mean it. Jus’ foolin’.”
Crooks, taking back his offer to join the farm, in Chapter 4.

He cancels his own hope in six words, which is the moment to quote if you are asked how the ranch treats hope.

Curley’s wife has no name

She is called somebody’s wife for the whole book. That matters.

“They left all the weak ones here”
Curley’s wife, in the doorway of Crooks’s room, in Chapter 4.

She names the three outcasts in one phrase, and the insult lands on her too.

“I never get to talk to nobody.”
Curley’s wife, alone in the barn with Lennie, in Chapter 5.

This is the line that turns her from a threat into a person, so it belongs in any answer about her.

“I coulda made somethin’ of myself.”
Curley’s wife, talking about the life she wanted, in Chapter 5.

Her dream is broken in the same way George’s is, which lets you tie her into a themes answer.

How it ends

The last two chapters return to the pool from Chapter 1. Same place, same instruction, different outcome.

“Lennie never done it in meanness”
George, defending Lennie to Candy, in Chapter 5.

The gap between doing harm and being cruel is the argument of the whole book, and this states it fastest.

“The hand shook violently, but his face set”
Narrator, at the pool in the final scene, in Chapter 6.

The hand steadies a second later, and that shift from shaking to steady is George’s character in one line.

“You hadda, George. I swear you hadda.”
Slim, taking George away at the end, in Chapter 6.

Slim is the one man whose judgement the ranch respects, so use his verdict to close an argument that the killing was mercy.

How to use these Of Mice and Men quotes in Section C

Section C is Responding Imaginatively. It carries 70 of the 180 marks, and your studied novel is examined there. Three or four quotes used well will beat ten quotes listed.

Do three things with every quote. Name who says it and when. Put it inside your own sentence as evidence, not at the end as decoration. Then write one sentence saying what it proves about the character or the theme.

Pick the Of Mice and Men quotes that fit the question in front of you, not the ones you happen to like. A quote you cannot explain is worth nothing. If you cannot say what a line proves, learn a different line. At Ordinary Level you can use fewer quotes, but the explaining still has to happen. The same rule holds in CBA2, the Collection of Student Texts, if you write about the novel there.

One mistake to avoid

The usual mistake is dropping in a long quote and then moving straight on. The quote sits there and does no work. An examiner cannot reward a line you have only copied out.

The fix is small. Cut the quote back to the shortest span that still makes your point. Then add one sentence that begins with what it shows. The best Of Mice and Men quotes are short, which is exactly what makes them easy to slot into your own writing.

Quick recall

1. Who says “An’ live off the fatta the lan'” and what does it show?

Lennie, in Chapter 1. It shows the dream is something he has learned by heart, not something he has planned.

2. Who says “Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?” and what does it show?

Carlson, in Chapter 3. It shows that usefulness decides who is allowed to stay on the ranch.

3. Who says “A guy needs somebody to be near him.” and what does it show?

Crooks, in Chapter 4. It shows loneliness as a need rather than a mood, which is why he is the loneliness theme in person.

4. Who says “I coulda made somethin’ of myself.” and what does it show?

Curley’s wife, in Chapter 5. It shows she has a broken dream too, so the farm is not the only one the book destroys.

5. Who says “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George.” and what does it show?

Candy, in Chapter 3. It shows regret at letting a stranger do it, and George is listening.

6. Who says “You hadda, George. I swear you hadda.” and what does it show?

Slim, in Chapter 6. It shows the only judgement on the ranch that carries weight, and it lands on George’s side.