Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Texas embodies a unique identity that goes beyond geography and touches on cultural significance.
In this quote, John Steinbeck reflects on the idea that Texas represents more than just a physical location; it symbolizes a state of mind and a cultural mystique akin to religion. This suggests that the feelings, values, and traditions associated with Texas contribute to a deeper, almost spiritual connection for its inhabitants and admirers, making it an integral part of their identity.
Themes
TexasIdentityCulturalMystiqueReligion
In practice
Example use cases
During a presentation about Texas culture, I used this quote to highlight the state's unique identity.
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
Similar quotes
Evolutionary naturalism takes the inherent limitations of science and turns them into a devastating philosophical weapon: because science is our only real way of knowing anything, what science cannot know cannot be real.
Phillip E. JohnsonRead
Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust? And, live we how we can, yet die we must.
William ShakespeareRead
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
Richard DawkinsRead
One day old Thrashbarg said that Almighty Bob had declared that he, Thrashbarg, was to have first pick of the sandwiches. The villagers asked him when this had happened, exactly, and Thrashbarg said it had happened yesterday, when they weren't looking. 'Have faith,' Old Thrashbarg said, 'or burn!' They let him have first pick of the sandwiches. It seemed easiest.
Douglas AdamsRead
[The purpose of a written constitution is] to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress, their acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril that their acquiescence shall be construed into an intention to surrender those rights.
Thomas JeffersonRead
Fighting aging is like the War on Drugs. It's expensive, does more harm than good, and has been proven to never end.
Amy PoehlerRead