A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then-the glory-so that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished.
John SteinbeckBoileau 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.
John SteinbeckThere's a responsibility in being a person. It's more than just taking up space where air would be.
John SteinbeckYes, you will. And I will warn you now that not their blood but your suspicion might build evil in them. They will be what you expect of themโฆI think when a man finds good or bad in his children he is seeing only what he planted in them after they cleared the womb." "You canโt make a race horse of a pig." "No," said Samuel, "but you can make a very fast pig.
John Steinbeck