Quotes that express the theme that friends sacrifice things for other friends in this novella.Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

During the 1930s, there were thousands of white American
men who were displaced as they had to give up their homes in search of work.  Alienated
from one another, in this isolation of itinerant worker, few became friends with
others.  As a result, there was a tension among workers, for they did not have the bond
of trust.

But George and Lennie are friends. While George
complains, saying in the first chapter,

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"I could get along so easy and so nice if I
didn't have you on my tail.  I could live so easy and maybe have a girl....You can't
keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get...You keep me in hot water all the
time."

Angered with Lennie
for keeping a mouse in his pocket, and for forcing them to leave jobs, George continues
to relate the sacrifices he has made,

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"When I think of the swell time I could have
without you, I go nuts.  I never get no
peace."

However, when the
hurt Lennie says that he can get along with George, George softens and tells him that he
wants Lennie to stay with him.  For Lennie, George recites their mantra of the dream of
owning their own place,

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

Then, in Chapter Two,
George explains to the boss who comments,

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"Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble
for another guy.  I just like to know what your interest
is."

George lies on Lennie's
behalf,

"He's
my...cousin.  I told his old lady I'd take care of him.He got kicked in the head by a
horse when he was a
kid...."

When the other
bindle-stiffs say that they are going to town to gamble and get some girls, out of
friendship to Lennie, George replies to Whit,

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"Me an' Lennie's rollin' up a stake,...Imight go
an' set a and have a shot, but I ain't puttin' out no two and a
half."

In the final
chapter after Lennie tragically kills another woman, he runs to the clearing where they
first camped before coming to the ranch.  When George arrives, Lennie asks him, "Ain't
you gonna give me hell?" but George does not, out of his love for Lennie.  Lennie offers
to go away, but George tells him "I want you to stay."  George, then, sacrifices his
job, his new friendships, and his own comfort for the sake of Lennie, whom the others
will harm if they catch him.  With one shot to the back of his head, George sends Lennie
to a place where no one will harm him.

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"No, Lennie.  Look down there acrost the river,
like you can almost see the place....."

Go on, George. When
we gonna do it?"

"Gonna do it soon.....Sure, right now. I
gotta. We gotta."