John Steinbeck

"The techniques of opening conversation are universal. I knew long ago and rediscovered that the best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost. A man who seeing his mother starving to death on a path kicks her in the stomach to clear the way, will cheerfully devote several hours of his time giving wrong directions to a total stranger who claims to be lost."

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Source: John Steinbeck (1980). “Travels with Charley in Search of America”, p.11, Penguin

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John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

Novelist, Journalist

John Steinbeck was an American author known for his poignant depictions of social issues, particularly in works like 'The Grapes of Wrath'.

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"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."

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