“For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.”
Source: The Pearl (1947), Ch. III
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John Steinbeck 366
American writer 1902–1968Related quotes

Un philosophe digne de ce nom n'a jamais dit qu'une seule chose : encore a-t-il plutôt cherché à la dire qu'il ne l'a dite véritablement. Et il n'a dit qu'une seule chose parce qu'il n'a su qu'un seul point : encore fut-ce moins une vision qu'un contact...
"L’intuition philosophique (Philosophical Intuition)" http://obvil.paris-sorbonne.fr/corpus/critique/bergson_pensee/body-5 (10 April 1911); translated by Mabelle L. Andison in: Henri Bergson, The Creative Mind: An Introduction to Metaphysics, Courier Dover Publications, 2012, p. 91

Source: 1950s, Unpopular Essays (1950)

“What thief does not fight to hold what he has?"
"One that has something better," said Locke.”
Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora
Diary, (November 2001) Memorial Address by Jocelyn Hurndall (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20060108221709/http://www.tomhurndall.co.uk/memorial/Address%20at%20Memorial%20Westminster%20Cathedral%20_2_.pdf

Source: Isaiah's Job (1936), III
Context: If a prophet were not too particular about making money out of his mission or getting a dubious sort of notoriety out of it, the foregoing considerations would lead one to say that serving the Remnant looks like a good job. An assignment that you can really put your back into, and do your best without thinking about results, is a real job; whereas serving the masses is at best only half a job, considering the inexorable conditions that the masses impose upon their servants. They ask you to give them what they want, they insist upon it, and will take nothing else; and following their whims, their irrational changes of fancy, their hot and cold fits, is a tedious business, to say nothing of the fact that what they want at any time makes very little call on one’s resources of prophesy. The Remnant, on the other hand, want only the best you have, whatever that may be. Give them that, and they are satisfied; you have nothing more to worry about.

Attributed to George Boole in: Des MacHale (1993) Comic sections: the book of mathematical jokes, humour, and wisdom. p, 107
Attributed from posthumous publications