Hard-covered books break up friendships. You loan a hard covered book to a friend and when he doesnโt return it you get mad at him. It makes you mean and petty. But twenty-five cent books are different.
John SteinbeckI donโt mind getting smacked on the chin. I just donโt want to get nibbled to death. Thereโs a difference.
John SteinbeckYou're going to pass something down no matter what you do or if you do nothing. Even if you let yourself go fallow, the weeds will grow and the brambles. Something will grow.
John SteinbeckThe Hebrew word, the word timshel - 'Thou mayest' - that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open...Why, that makes a man great...He can choose his course and fight it through and win...I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed - because 'Thou mayest'. ch 24
John SteinbeckI believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caughtโin their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity tooโin 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 wellโor ill?
John Steinbeck