East of Eden

by John Steinbeck

“No story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us. What a great burden of guilt men have!”

every little boy thinks he invented sin. Virtue we think we learn, because we are told about it. But sin is our own designing.”

there aren’t enough excuses in the world.”

I know that it might be better for you to come out from under your might-have-beens, into the winds of the world. And while I tell you, I am myself sifting my memories, the way men pan the dirt under a barroom floor for the bits of gold dust that fall between the cracks. It’s small mining—small mining. You’re too young a man to be panning memories, Adam. You should be getting yourself some new ones, so that the mining will be richer when you come to age.”

“I’m afraid to try,”

Somewhere in my dust heap there’s a richness.”

But think of the glory of the choice! That makes a man a man. A cat has no choice, a bee must make honey. There’s no godliness there.

feel that I am a man. And I feel that a man is a very important thing—maybe more important than a star. This is not theology. I have no bent toward gods. But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed—because ‘Thou mayest.’

“Your medicine acts like poison.”

“There’s death all around you. It shines from you.” “I didn’t know anyone could see it,”