Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
What a frightening thing is the human, a mass of gauges and dials and registers, and we can only read a few and those perhaps not accurately.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the complexity of human nature and the limitations of our understanding of ourselves and others.
John Steinbeck's quote highlights the intricate and often incomprehensible nature of humanity. He suggests that each person is like a complex machine with many gauges and indicators, but we can only perceive and interpret a fraction of these signals. This observation points to the challenges of truly knowing ourselves and others, and the potential for misinterpretation in our judgments. The inherent complexity of human behavior and emotions makes understanding oneself and others a daunting task.
Themes
Human NatureUnderstandingComplexitySelf-AwarenessPerception
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal growth during a workshop.
More from John Steinbeck
All quotes βAt 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.
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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.
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The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
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People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
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It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
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