John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl” Quotes (13 Quotes)


    He did not know, and perhaps this doctor did. And he could not take the chance of pitting his certain ignorance against this man's possible knowledge. He was trapped as his people were always trapped, and would be until, as he had said, they could be sure that the things in the books ere really in the books.

    If every single man and woman, child and baby, acts and conducts itself in a known pattern and breaks no walls and differs with no one and experiments in no way and is not sick and does not endanger the ease and peace of mind or steady unbroken flow of the town, then that unit can disappear and never be heard of.


    Part of the far shore disappeared into a shimmer that looked like water. There was no certainty in seeing, no proof that what you saw was there or was not there. And the people of the Gulf expected all places were that way, and it was not strange to them.

    She gathered some brown seaweed and made a flat damp poultice of it, and this she applied to the baby's swollen shoulder, which was as good a remedy as any and probably better than the doctor could have done. But the remedy lacked his authority because it was simple and didn't cost anything.


    The people say that the two seemed to be removed from human experience; that they had gone through pain and had come out on the other side.

    They were students of the expressions of young women as they went in to confession, and they saw them as they came out and read the nature of the sin.

    This was an evil beyond thinking. The killing of a man was not so evil as the killing of a boat. For a boat does not have sons, and a boat cannot protect itself, and a wounded boat does not heal.

    When Kino had finished, Juana came back to the fire and ate her breakfast. They had spoken once, but there is not need for speech if it is only a habit anyway. Kino sighed with satisfaction - and that was conversation.

    A plan is a real thing, and things projected are experienced. A plan once made and visualized becomes reality along with other realities-never to be destroyed but easily to be attacked.

    And in his dream, Coyotito was reading from a book as large as a house, with letters as big as dogs, and the words galloped and played on the book.

    For every man in the world functions to the best of his ability, and no one does less than his best, no matter what he may think about it.

    For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.


    More John Steinbeck Quotations (Based on Topics)


    Man - People - World - Mind - Time - Thought & Thinking - Education - Work & Career - Books - Woman - Sin - Life - Place - Courage - Dogs - Friendship - Fear - Success - Soul - View All John Steinbeck Quotations

    More John Steinbeck Quotations (By Book Titles)


    - Cannery Row
    - East of Eden
    - Of Mice and Men
    - The Grapes of Wrath
    - The Pearl
    - The Winter of Our Discontent

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