The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “John Steinbeck”

What We Look for When We Are Looking: John Steinbeck on Wonder and the Relational Nature of the Universe
What We Look for When We Are Looking: John Steinbeck on Wonder and the Relational Nature of the Universe

Searching for “that principle which keys us deeply into the pattern of all life.”

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Love, Music, Solitude, and How to Be More Alive: The Best of The Marginalian 2022
Love, Music, Solitude, and How to Be More Alive: The Best of The Marginalian 2022

From Emily Dickinson to Bruce Springsteen, by way of galaxies and gardening.

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The Log from the Sea of Cortez: John Steinbeck’s Forgotten Masterpiece on How to Think and the Art of Seeing the Pattern Beyond the Particular
The Log from the Sea of Cortez: John Steinbeck’s Forgotten Masterpiece on How to Think and the Art of Seeing the Pattern Beyond the Particular

“Everything impinges on everything else… Everything is potentially everywhere.”

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The Only Story in the World: John Steinbeck on Kindness, Good and Evil, the Wellspring of Good Writing
The Only Story in the World: John Steinbeck on Kindness, Good and Evil, the Wellspring of Good Writing

“Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love.”

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John Steinbeck on Good and Evil, the Necessary Contradictions of the Human Nature, and Our Grounds for Lucid Hope
John Steinbeck on Good and Evil, the Necessary Contradictions of the Human Nature, and Our Grounds for Lucid Hope

“All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up. It isn’t that the evil thing wins — it never will — but that it doesn’t die.”

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The Tragic Miracle of Consciousness: John Steinbeck on the True Meaning and Purpose of Hope
The Tragic Miracle of Consciousness: John Steinbeck on the True Meaning and Purpose of Hope

“Hope is a diagnostic human trait, and this simple cortex symptom seems to be a prime factor in our inspection of our universe.”

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The Art of Receiving: John Steinbeck on the True Meaning of Gratitude
The Art of Receiving: John Steinbeck on the True Meaning of Gratitude

“It is so easy to give, so exquisitely rewarding. Receiving, on the other hand, if it be well done, requires a fine balance of self-knowledge and kindness.”

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What It Means to Be a Writer: John Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech About Slicing Through Humanity’s Confusion
What It Means to Be a Writer: John Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech About Slicing Through Humanity’s Confusion

“A writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature.”

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John Steinbeck on the Loneliness of Success and His Surprising Source of Self-Salvation
John Steinbeck on the Loneliness of Success and His Surprising Source of Self-Salvation

“The loneliness and discouragement… I can’t talk to anyone much about them or even admit having them because I now possess the things that the great majority of people think are the death of loneliness and discouragement.”

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Computer Crashes Before Computers: When John Steinbeck’s Dog Ate His Manuscript
Computer Crashes Before Computers: When John Steinbeck’s Dog Ate His Manuscript

“Two months work to do over again… I was pretty mad but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically.”

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