John Steinbeck Quotes

One of the unpardonable sins, in the eyes of most people, is for a man to go about unlabeled. The world regards such a person as the police do an unmuzzled dog, not under proper control.

The fear of being different prevents most people from seeking new ways to solve their problems.

It always seemed to me that men wore their beards, like they wear their neckties, for show.

I know nowadays the common wisdom is to celebrate diversity as long as you don't point out that people are different.

In our time, a beard is the one thing that a woman cannot do better than a man, or if she can her success is assured only in a circus.

One of things about beards is that, when men reach a certain age, they'd like to see if they can grow one. It's a phenomenon I understand very well. After you get over the itchy face, you go, "Oh, I don't have to shave, that's cool." And then you move into the philosophical thing- people say, "You look weird, you have a beard." And you say, "No, actually, it's weird to shave." Having a beard is natural. When you think about it, shaving it off is quite weird.

Having a beard is natural. When you think about it, shaving it off is quite weird.

Everyone can see that the people who hunt are the right people and the people who don't are the wrong ones.

So, in the interests of survival, they trained themselves to be agreeing machines instead of thinking machines. All their minds had to do was to discover what other people were thinking, and then they thought that, too.

It's when you treat people like freaks that you become one yourself.

The system you're brought up under tries to make you like the people that succeeded in that system.

The virtue in most request is conformity.

When people are watching you, it makes you think twice about what you do, and the things you say, and the people you hang around with.

The reason they want you to fit in... is that once you do, then they can ignore you.

Abnormal, adj. Not conforming to standard. In matters of thought and conduct, to be independent is to be abnormal, to be abnormal is to be detested.

As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affectation if I were to begin it now?

People are incredibly rude about it sometimes. Like "What? You're married?" Strange reaction to have. Proves what people's ideas about marriage are. "We're having a baby." "What?" As if it's the end of the world. Of course, it's the start of a brilliant world.

We are tempted to live under the illusion that somewhere out there are people who are normal.

Conventions are convenient. It is inconvenient to say people are dead when they are alive, or alive when they have been buried, or that the world is crumbling when it is, as everyone can see, there as usual. If all A that does not fit B is ipso facto disqualified, we have to tailor A to shape and size to avoid serious trouble, and not all are equally gifted in this art.

At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question.

People like you to be something, preferably what they are.

Liberalism has become a moral vaccine that immunizes people against stigmatization.

If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox way, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them.They will find away to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

Conformity may not always reign in the prosperous bourgeois suburb, but it ultimately always governs.

When it is made to appear as though not knowing everything about everyone is an existential crisis, then you feel that bending the rules is okay. Once people hate you for bending those rules, breaking them becomes a matter of survival.