Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the strong social bonds and unity among people in Texas.
John Steinbeck's observation about Texas emphasizes the unique sense of community and connection among its residents, suggesting that their relationships and shared identity create a cohesive social fabric that is arguably unmatched in other parts of the United States. This cohesiveness reflects not only geographical ties but also cultural, historical, and emotional bonds that resonate deeply within the Texan identity.
In practice
During a speech about Texas culture, one might quote Steinbeck to emphasize the importance of community bonds.
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.
Nothing haunts us like the things we don't say.
And she keeps saying, how can you do this to me? And i want to scream, what do you mean, how can I do this to you? Aren't we confusing our pronouns here? The question, really, is How could I do this to myself?
If you think youβre enlightened go spend a week with your family.
It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.
Unlike the sale of a commodity, the giving of a gift tends to establish a relationship between the parties involved. When gifts circulate within a group, their commerce leaves a series of interconnected relationships in its wake, and a kind of decentralized cohesiveness emerges.
I didn't want to see her because it would make me feel better. I came because without her, it's hard to remember who I am.
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