Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
The sad ones are those who waste their energy in trying to hold it back, for they can only feel bitterness in loss and no joy in gain.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Resisting change leads to bitterness and prevents experiencing joy.
In this quote, John Steinbeck emphasizes the futility of attempting to halt the inevitable flow of life and emotions. By clinging to past losses or resisting change, one not only fails to find joy in new opportunities but also risks becoming consumed by bitterness, thereby missing out on the positive experiences life has to offer.
Themes
ChangeBitternessJoyLossGainLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about embracing change in the workplace.
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.
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.
John SteinbeckRead
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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