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.
John SteinbeckRead
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Ideas breed and multiply once nurtured.
This quote by John Steinbeck conveys the notion that ideas have a tendency to proliferate once they are cultivated properly. Just as a few rabbits can quickly lead to a larger population when cared for, a small number of innovative thoughts can grow into a multitude of creative concepts through attention and effort.
Themes
IdeasCreativityGrowthInnovationNurture
In practice
Example use cases
In a brainstorming session, I shared a quote by Steinbeck to encourage my team to expand their innovative ideas.
More from John Steinbeck
All quotes →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.
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The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
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People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
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It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
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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
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