“To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolish. You must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous.”
Source: East of Eden
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
John Steinbeck 366
American writer 1902–1968Related quotes
“People like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves.”
Geralt
Source: The Last Wish (1993)
Context: “People," Geralt turned his head, "like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.”
Life As It Is, page ii, by Nelson Rodrigues, English translation, Alex Ladd, Host Publications, ISBN 9780924047602 pages
“In the time of gods and monsters, what is the worth of a man?”
Some Statements and Truisms about Neologisms, Newisms, Postisms, Parasitisms, and other small Seismisms, The States of Theory, ed. David Carroll, New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.
“But the problem is to make the soul into a monster”
"The Hue and Cry"
The Writing on the Wall and Other Literary Essays (1970)