Quote

The direction of a big act will warp history, but probably all acts do the same in their degree, down to a stone stepped over in the path or the breath caught at sight of a pretty girl or a fingernail nicked in the garden soil.

John Steinbeck

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John Steinbeck
Age: 66 †
Born: 1902
Born: February 27
Died: 1968
Died: December 20
Author
Novelist
Screenwriter
War Correspondent
Writer
Salinas
California
John Ernst Steinbeck
Jr.
John Ernst Steinbeck
John Ernest Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr
Steinbeck
Sight
Breath
Nicked
Pretty
Breaths
Fingernail
Probably
Degree
Warp
Path
Direction
Fingernails
Bigs
Stones
Stepped
Girl
Degrees
Stone
History
Caught
Soil
Garden
Acts

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Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.
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War ... a reversal of the rules where a man is permitted to kill all the humans he can.
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I have noticed that there is no dissatisfaction like that of the rich. Feed a man, clothe him, put him in a good house, and he will die of despair.
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I'm back with my own kind of people here now, the bums and drinkers and no goods and it is a fine thing.
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“Do you take pride in your hurt?” Samuel asked. “Does it make you seem large and tragic?” “I don't know.” “Well, think about it. Maybe you're playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience.”
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I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied.
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The American girl makes a servant of her husband and then finds him contemptible for being a servant
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The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
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The dairy man had a Ph.D. in mathematics, and he must have had some training in philosophy. He liked what he was doing and he didn't want to be somewhere else - one of the few contented people I met in my whole journey.
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No one who is young is ever going to be old.
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For many years we have suckled on fear and fear alone, and there is no good product of fear.
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But whereas a puppy will cringe away or roll on its back, groveling, a little boy may cover his shyness with nonchalance, with bravado, or with secrecy. And once a boy has suffered rejection, he will find rejection even where it does not exist-or, worse, will draw it forth from people simply by expecting it.
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Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love.
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Can you honestly love a dishonest thing?
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They're a dark people with a gift for suffering way past their deserving. It's said that without whiskey to soak and soften the world, they'd kill themselves. (Irish)
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To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolish. You must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous.
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Intentions, good or bad, are not enough. There's luck or fate or something else that takes over.
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The break would never come as long as fear could turn to wrath.
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Boileau said that Kings, Gods and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires. Present-day kings aren't very inspiring, the gods are on a vacation and about the only heroes left are the scientists and the poor.
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Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish.
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