I have named the destroyers of nations: comfort, plenty, and security - out of which grow a bored and slothful cynicism, in which rebellion against the world as it is, and myself as I am, are submerged in listless self-satisfaction.
John SteinbeckA man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers.
John SteinbeckA funeral isn't for the dead. You'll simply be a stage set for a kind of festival maybe. And besides, you won't even be there.
John Steinbeck