Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote illustrates the emotional progression of those who are comfortable towards those who are less fortunate.
John Steinbeck's quote reveals how people's feelings can shift from empathy to disdain when confronted with hardship faced by others. Initially, the comfort of the well-off breeds pity for the migrant people, but as the comfortable become accustomed to their own lives, their feelings evolve into distaste and ultimately, hatred, illustrating a troubling response to poverty and displacement.
Themes
EmpathyDisplacementSocial JusticePovertyHumanity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about social issues, this quote can highlight the dangers of ignoring the struggles of others.
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
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
You're going to pass something down no matter what you do or if you do nothing. Even if you let yourself go fallow, the weeds will grow and the brambles. Something will grow.
John SteinbeckRead
Similar quotes
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Carl SaganRead
I have one major rule: Everybody is right. More specifically, everybody β including me β has some important pieces of truth, and all of those pieces need to be honored, cherished, and included in a more gracious, spacious, and compassionate embrace.
Ken WilberRead
Where there is no free agency, there can be no morality. Where there is no temptation, there can be little claim to virtue. Where the routine is rigorously proscribed by law, the law, and not the man, must have the credit of the conduct.
William H. PrescottRead
To people like me, educated in post-war Britain, free speech has been a firm premise of the British way of life.
Roger ScrutonRead
We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove.
Mark TwainRead
This rule of silence is upheld when the culture refuses everyone easy access even to the word βpatriarchy.β Most children do not learn what to call this system of institutionaliz ed gender roles, so rarely do we name it in everyday speech. This silence promotes denial. And how can we organize to challenge and change a system that cannot be named?
Bell HooksRead