Steinbeck

I recently stumbled upon several Steinbeck quotes I fell in love with and thought you might enjoy reading as well. I like to keep a collection of thoughts, quotes, letters and photos that have impacted me throughout the chronology of my life and some of these made the cut..



“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.” -- East of Eden


“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.”


“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil. . . . There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill?”  -- East of Eden


“To be alive at all is to have scars.”  -- The Winter of our Discontent