Humans are caught -- in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too -- in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. Virtue and vice were warp and woof of our first consciousness, and they will be the fabric of our last, and this despite any chances we may impose of field and river and mountain, on economy and manners. There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I don well -- or ill? .John Steinbeck
About This Quote
In the above quote, Herman Hesse says that humans are caught in a web of good and evil. He states that human’s lives are fraught with good and evil. We cannot escape from either of these forces. Hesse goes on to say that we will be defined by the actions we take and the decisions we make.
The hard questions he speaks of are difficult because they require a great deal of thought and effort to answer correctly. These questions will come at different times in your life. They may come when you are young or even when you are older.
Source: East Of Eden
Some Similar Quotes
- I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.
- You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth.
- This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like...
- When someone loves you, the way they talk about you is different. You feel safe and comfortable.
- Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears." After all this time?"" Always, " said Snape.
More Quotes By John Steinbeck
- What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
- It has always seemed strange to me... The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of...
- Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
- Muscles aching to work, minds aching to create - this is man.
- Tom felt his darkness. His father was beautiful and clever, his mother was short and mathematically sure. Each of his brothers and sisters had looks or gifts or fortune. Tom loved all of them passionately, but he felt heavy and earth-bound. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>He climbed...