The Pastures of Heaven Quotes

“After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people. This deep desire exists in everyone, from the boy who writes dirty words in a public toilet to the Buddha who etches his image in the race mind. Life is so unreal. I think that we seriously doubt that we exist and go about trying to prove that we do.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“It's almost impossible to read a fine thing without wanting to do a fine thing.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“He is one of those whom God has not quite finished.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“He did not often think of people as individuals, but rather as antidotes for the poison of his loneliness, as escapes from the imprisoned ghosts.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“Everyone has to be an orphan some time.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives of other people.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“Yaşamak ve üretmek için gerekli olanları elde etmekten başka insanoğlunun en en çok istediği şey geriye kendisinden bir iz bırakmaktır; belki de kendisinin gerçekten var olduğunu ispatlayacak bir kanıt bırakma peşindedir, bu kanıtı bir tahta üzerine, taş üzerine ya da diğer insanların yaşantıları üzerine bırakır. Bu derin istek herkes de vardır; tuvalet duvarlarına ayıp ifadeler yazan çocuktan kendi imajını insan soyunun zihnine kazıyan Budda’ya kadar Yaşam öylesine gerçek dışı ki… Var olduğumuz konusunda ciddi kuşkularımız olduğunu ve bunu kanıtlamaya çalıştığımızı düşünüyorum.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“За други това би било просто грешка — рече Кейси, — но щом ти мислиш, че е грях, значи, е грях. Човек сам си създава греховете.”
― Джон Стайнбек, The Pastures of Heaven

“Most lives extend in a curve. There is a rise of ambition, a rounded peak of maturity, a gentle downward slope of disillusion and last a flattened grade of waiting for death.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“When her mother died, she felt little besides shame. Her mother had wanted so much to be loved, and she hadn’t known how to draw love. Her importunities had bothered the children and driven them away.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“This Little Frog should not be going to school. He can work; he can do marvelous things with his hands, but he cannot learn to do the simple little things of the school. He is not crazy; he is one of those whom God has not quite finished.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“It made him feel alive; he seemed to be living more acutely than at other times.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“His nostrils and ears were large and full of hair. They looked as though furry little animals were hiding in them.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“Most lives extend in a curve. There is a rise of ambition, a rounded peak of maturity, a gentle downward slope of disillusion and last a flattened grade of waiting for death. John Whiteside lived in a straight line. He was ambitionless; his farm not only made him a good living, but paid enough so he could hire men to work it for him. He wanted nothing beyond what he had or could easily procure. He was one of the few men who could savor a moment while he held it. And he knew it was a good life he was leading, a uniquely good life.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven

“If I could go down there and live down there for a little—why, I’d think over all the things that ever happened to me, and maybe I could make something out of them, something all in one piece that had a meaning, instead of all these trailing ends, these raw and dragging tails. Nothing would bother me down there and I could think.”
― John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven