"Don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens - The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away."
"She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken. And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt or fear, she had practiced denying them in herself. And since, when a joyful thing happened, they looked to see whether joy was on her, it was her habit to build laughter out of inadequate materials....She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall."
4 likes
Source: John Steinbeck (2002). “East of Eden”, p.265, Penguin
About the author
Same author
More quotes by John Steinbeck
"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
"It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."
"The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world."
"And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."
"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness."