Mary Gladwin

John Steinbeck

East of Eden.

Essence

You can boast about anything if it's all you have. Maybe the less you have, the more you are required to boast. 

Caitlin

Mazzy

I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers.

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 a breath caught at sight of a pretty girl or a fingernail nicked in the garden soil.

nearly all men are afraid, and they don't even know what causes their fear

I think the difference between a lie and a story is that a story utilizes the trappings and appearance of truth for the interest of the listener as well as of the teller. A story has in it neither gain nor loss. But a lie is a device for profit or escape. I suppose if that definition is strictly held to, then a writer of stories is a liar -- he is financially fortunate.

"Well, a man's mind can't stay in time the way his body does."

Pramit Pal

Shrewdness is a limitation on the mind. Shrewdness tells you what you must not do because it would not be shrewd.

"Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it let's him do a thing his cleverness forbids."

If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And I here make a rule — a great and lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting — only the deeply personal and familiar

East of Eden. quotes

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