"Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it."

Life

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on life by John Steinbeck resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in life is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About John Steinbeck

John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer and novelist. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters". One of the most widely read authors of the 20th century, he was also an independent journalist and war correspondent during World War II and the Vietnam War.

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by John Steinbeck

"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts."

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"Sectional football games have the glory and the despair of war, and when a Texas team takes the field against a foreign state, it is an army with banners."

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"Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass."

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More about Life

"The horror no less than the charm of real life consists precisely in the recurrent actualization of the inconceivable."

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