Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
As with many people, Charles, who could not talk, wrote with fullness. He set down his loneliness and his perplexities, and he put on paper many things he did not know about himself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the complex relationship between communication and self-discovery through writing.
In this quote, John Steinbeck highlights the power of writing as a means of expression and self-exploration. Despite the inability to speak, Charles communicates his innermost feelings and thoughts on paper, revealing that articulate expression doesn't always require verbal language. This notion suggests that writing can be a profound tool for understanding oneself and articulating emotions that may be difficult to verbalize, thereby acknowledging the significance of introspection and creativity in the human experience.
Themes
WritingSelf-DiscoveryLonelinessExpressionCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of writing in therapy, you might say, 'As John Steinbeck noted, writing allows us to express our perplexities and discover who we are.'
More from John Steinbeck
All quotes →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.
John SteinbeckRead
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.
John SteinbeckRead
People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
John SteinbeckRead
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
John SteinbeckRead
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