Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
It would be absurd if we did not understand both angels and devils, since we invented them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our understanding of good and evil is a reflection of our own creations and perceptions.
John Steinbeck's quote emphasizes the absurdity of not comprehending the concepts of angels and devils, which are fundamental archetypes in human storytelling and morality. Since humans have created these figures in literature and culture, it follows that we must explore their meanings and implications to fully understand ourselves and our moral landscape.
Themes
AngelsDevilsUnderstandingCreationMorality
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about morality in a classroom setting.
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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Man is not equally moral at all hours, this is well known. If his morality is judged to be the capability for great self-sacrificing resolutions and self-denial (which, when continuous and grown habitual, are called holiness)
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The value comes from what is there, but the use comes from what is not there.
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