Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
We, or at least I, can have no conception of human life and human thought in a hundred years or fifty years. Perhaps my greatest wisdom is the knowledge that I do not know. The sad ones are those who waste their energy in trying to hold it back, for thy can only feel bitterness in loss and no joy in gain.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embracing uncertainty about the future is a sign of wisdom.
In this quote, John Steinbeck reflects on the limitation of human understanding regarding life and thought over time, emphasizing that awareness of one’s ignorance can be considered wisdom. He suggests that attempting to resist the inevitability of change leads to bitterness, while acceptance enables one to find joy in the present and future experiences.
Themes
WisdomUncertaintyLifeChangeKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a graduation speech to encourage students to embrace uncertainty.
More from John Steinbeck
All quotes →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.
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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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It means nothing to be open to a proposition we don't understand.
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I think of the need for more wisdom in the world, to deal with the knowledge that we have. At one time we had wisdom, but little knowledge. Now we have a great deal of knowledge, but do we have enough wisdom to deal with that knowledge?
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