Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding something intellectually doesn't guarantee belief in it emotionally or personally.
This quote by John Steinbeck highlights the complex nature of human cognition and belief. It suggests that an individual can grasp a concept or fact on an intellectual level, yet choose to reject it emotionally or personally because of biases, fears, or experiences. This reflects a fundamental aspect of human nature, where knowledge and belief do not always align, illustrating the struggle many people face in reconciling what they know with what they accept as true in their lives.
Themes
BeliefKnowledgeHuman NatureCognitionTruth
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on the importance of climate change knowledge, this quote can emphasize the gap between understanding and belief.
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
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
One can say that the city itself is the collective memory of its people, and like memory it is associated with objects and places. The city is the locus of the collective memory.
Aldo RossiRead
There is no greater mystery than this, that we keep _x000D_ seeking reality though in fact we are reality. We _x000D_ think that there is something hiding reality and that _x000D_ this must be destroyed before reality is gained. _x000D_ How ridiculous! A day will dawn when you will laugh _x000D_ ... at all your past efforts. That which will be the day _x000D_ you laugh is also here and now.
Ramana MaharshiRead
Ill gotten gains will be ill spent.
Marcus Tullius CiceroRead
Death is not a tragedy to the one who dies; to have wasted the life before that death, that is the tragedy.
Orson Scott CardRead
Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.
Simone WeilRead
Science only answers the question, How does it work? Or at most, What's there? Science asks what and how, philosophy asks why, myth and religion ask who. Who's in charge here? Who's the author? That's what we really long to know.
Peter KreeftRead