Quotations

"Later she sat on the ground in the forest between school and home, and spring was so bright and beautiful, the warm air touched her so tenderly, she could almost feel herself changing into a flower. Her light dress felt like petals. 'I love everything," she heard herself say.'So do I,' a voice answered. Pearl straightened up and looked around. No one was there."

— William Steig, American illustrator, born 1907

"The most important thing is to be whatever you are without shame."

— Rod Steiger, American actor, born 1925

"When you're depressed, there's no calendar. There are no dates, there's no day, there's no night, there's no seconds, there's no minutes, there's nothing. You're just existing in this cold, murky, ever-heavy atmosphere, like they put you inside a vial of mercury."

— Rod Steiger, American actor, born 1925

"Man is a greater miracle than any god ever invented."

— Rod Steiger, American actor, born 1925

"We come. We go. And in-between we try to understand."

— Rod Steiger, American actor, born 1925

"I had given up practicing my Jewish religion when I was a 14-year-old girl and did not begin to feel Jewish again until I had returned to God."

— Edith Stein, German Jewish Carmelite nun, born 1891

"Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love. And do not accept anything as love which lacks truth!"

— Edith Stein, German Jewish Carmelite nun, born 1891

"Usually one gets a heavier cross when one attempts to get rid of an old one."

—Edith Stein, German Jewish Carmelite nun, born 1891

"The thing that differentiates man from animals is money."

— Gertrude Stein, American author, born 1874

"Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard."

— John Steinbeck, American author, born 1902

"Muscles aching to work, minds aching to create - this is man."

— John Steinbeck, American author, born 1902

"Death was a friend, and sleep was Death's brother."

— John Steinbeck, American author, born 1902

"Then it don' matter. Then I'll be all aroun' in the dark. I'll be ever'where - wherever you look. Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an' - I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build, why, I'll be there."

— John Steinbeck, American author, born 1902

"Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, and emerges ahead of his accomplishments."

— John Steinbeck, American author, born 1902