John Steinbeck’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1962 “Literature was not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches – nor is it a game for the cloistered elect, the tinhorn mendicants of low calorie despair. Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for it, and it has not changed except to become more needed.” “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires” “Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in art, in music, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man. And now the forces marshaled around the concept of the group have declared a war of extermination on that preciousness, the mind of man. By disparagement, by starvation, by repressions, forced direction, and the stunning blows of conditioning, the free, roving mind is being pursued, roped, blunted, drugged. It is a sad suicidal course our species seems to have taken. And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in all the world …
schiavolini
April 3, 2012 at 6:22 pm
GRAZIE i never saw him in a video and i consider him greatest writer, thanks
MrJcenter7
April 3, 2012 at 7:19 pm
I read bunch of this guys books as a teenager. Now I’m bout to venture out on the streets as a homeless person, maybe I’ll end up in Monterey like Mack and the boys though it gets awful cold there
Uyvids
April 3, 2012 at 7:54 pm
Uhuh… Hmm… Lego and Spongebob videos on your channel, childish colors, subscribed to other similar people… I’d say you were actually born more along the lines of 2003, sorry buddy.
Brianjonestown
April 3, 2012 at 8:28 pm
Very different writers. It does no good to rank one above the other.
Bummercund
April 3, 2012 at 8:44 pm
@frank47hammer hey don’t underestimate Orwell, he wrote Animal Farm.
frank47hammer
April 3, 2012 at 9:32 pm
Orwell was more of a political prophet than a novelist. Steinbeck wrote about politics but also a lot more besides. Orwell was nowhere near the caliber of writer that Steinbeck was, though. Steinbeck wrote East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, and so on. The Grapes of Wrath ranks in the top 5 American novels ever written.
IbarraBros1969
April 3, 2012 at 10:15 pm
hi my name is jack lovercraft i was born in 1937 and i have been john steinbeck, ernest hemingway and wiliam faulkner books since 1952
FunUsernamesAreGone
April 3, 2012 at 11:11 pm
This guy is just too cool.
xxxNIPPINxxx
April 3, 2012 at 11:45 pm
@jordan9173 Mmmmmmmm I love that poo tang, and vaginitis poonder
Jordan91731
April 4, 2012 at 12:28 am
Hmmmmm pootain
Jordan91731
April 4, 2012 at 12:48 am
Cunter
BenFTWin
April 4, 2012 at 1:16 am
This man is a cunter.
tonyrosam
April 4, 2012 at 1:18 am
To roar like a lion among men; without hesitation nor guilt and bring prosperity. That is my dream.
fcs2131
April 4, 2012 at 1:38 am
Giant
scottonspruce
April 4, 2012 at 2:36 am
a shining beacon of conscience and elegance
RewardHonesty
April 4, 2012 at 2:48 am
There is nothing conspiratorial about a resource based economy, understanding our monetary system, and understanding a way towards a better future. I suppose 15 Trillion in dept, an impending US default, a corrupt government, wars, and declining health of humanity and our planet is all a conspiracy to you. The problem is that people like you don’t even understand that Steinbeck is indeed referring to what The Zeitgeist Movement is all about. ‘The Winter Of Our Discontent’ says it all.
opin92
April 4, 2012 at 3:23 am
fuck off with ur conspiracytheories
Bummercund
April 4, 2012 at 3:38 am
Is this guy regarded in the USA like our George Orwell is in Britain?
AGuyInAHat
April 4, 2012 at 4:25 am
He speaks like a prophet, he writes like a God
RewardHonesty
April 4, 2012 at 5:17 am
I think John Steinbeck’s message here supports what The Zeitgeist Movement is all about. For those who are interested, please take the time to see the youtube film: Zeitgeist Moving Forward. Have the open mindedness to allow yourself and your beliefs to be challenged, have the discipline to watch from start to finish….you will be glad that you did. Peace.
tolerford
April 4, 2012 at 5:48 am
Might be my speakers, but his voice is so deeply bass that it blurs, coming out, and in more places than not, is hard to decipher, especially as he ends his sentences lowering his tone. Want to thank guyjohn59 for sharing this. After having read and found I love his STEINBECK: A LIFE IN LETTERS, it means a lot to me to find him as he was in life.
tolerford
April 4, 2012 at 6:34 am
Might be my speakers, but his voice is so deeply bass that it blurs, coming out, and in more places than not, is hard to decipher, especially as he ends his sentences lower his tone. Want to thank guyjohn59 for sharing this. After having read and found I love his STEINBECK: A LIFE IN LETTERS, it means a lot to me to find him as he was in life.
canfor5
April 4, 2012 at 7:01 am
Thank You for posting this! An important message for all.
arenadri7
April 4, 2012 at 7:05 am
25 October 1962 JOHN STEINBECK, Important American WRITER received Nobel prize for his LITERATURE opus!
freddiemesquit1
April 4, 2012 at 7:15 am
Steinbeck, like Bach, was #1 – all others came after.