East of Eden

by John Steinbeck

Also, there is none of the horror of the possible turndown which shrivels the guts of timid men.

The hall was gloomed with the dot of yellow light from an oil lamp turned down so low that it jerked expiringly.

“Don’t agree with me all the time. It hints of insincerity. Speak up for yourself.”

“To you she was because you built her. I don’t think you ever saw her—only your own creation.”

On one side you have warmth and companionship and sweet understanding, and on the other—cold, lonely greatness.

“No. I didn’t. I wish I had. He loved a celebration of the human soul. Such things were like a personal triumph to him.”

They say a clean cut heals soonest.

“Somehow he made a man better than he was,”

“All great and precious things are lonely.”

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.