Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger.
Interpretation
Reality and romance often conflict, but romance holds a unique power over our perceptions of life.
In this quote, Steinbeck conveys the idea that while reality can be harsh and unforgiving, the allure and depth of romance can often triumph over it. The quote suggests that our romantic notions and dreams can shape our lives in ways that reality alone cannot, highlighting the importance of imagination and emotional experiences in the human condition.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a wedding speech to emphasize the power of love.
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.
Discrimination is not liberal. Arguing against discrimination is not intolerance.
No new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.
The self of which you speak, whether it is the great self or the small self, is only a concept that does not correspond to any reality.
God is silent. Now if only man would shut up.
Being a Christian means renouncing ourselves, taking up the cross and carrying it with Jesus. There is no other way.
The mad sometimes drilled holes in their own heads to let the demons out. To relieve the pressure of thoughts they could no longer bear. Jude understood the impulse. Each beat of his heart was a fresh and staggering blow felt in the nerves behind his eyes and in his temples. Punishing evidence of life.
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