The one thing our species is helpless against is good fortune. It first puzzles, then frightens, then angers, and finally destroys us.
~ John Steinbeck

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Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts, perhaps fear of a loss of power.
~ John Steinbeck

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A book is like a man — clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.
~ John Steinbeck