Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.
Interpretation
Individual curiosity and exploration are immensely valuable.
This quote by John Steinbeck emphasizes the importance of an individual's capacity for exploration and creativity. It suggests that the unique ability of humans to think freely and explore new ideas or experiences is what drives progress and innovation, making it the most precious asset we possess.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions about the value of creativity in education.
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
At one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam tells him, "You can't make a race horse of a pig." Samuel replies, "No, but you can make a very fast pig.
And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.
The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep.
Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things, and thence proceed to greater.
I realized I was more convincing to myself and to the people who were listening when I actually said what I thought, versus what I thought people wanted to hear me say.
Some people have great ideas maybe once or twice in their life, and then they discover electricity or fire or outer space or something. I mean, the kind of brilliant ideas that change the whole world. Some people never have them at all... I get them two or three times a week.
When you surrender and stop resisting and stop trying to change that which you can't change, but be in the moment, be fully open to the blessings you've already received and those that are yet to come and stand in that space of gratitude ... and look at where you are and how far you've come and what you've accomplished - when you can claim THAT and SEE that, the literal vibration of your life will change.
The whole thing resolves itself into our mental ability to control our thought. The man who can do this can have what he wants, can do what he wishes and becomes what he wills.
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