“Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids.”

— John Steinbeck , book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

Last update Oct. 29, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids." by John Steinbeck?

John Steinbeck 366

American writer 1902–1968

Related quotes

“Silly people say stupid things, clever people do them.”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer

Alberne Leute sagen Dummheiten. Gescheite Leute machen sie.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 70.

“What is scandalous is not that stupid people should sometimes inherit private incomes; but that clever people should sometimes not.”

Celia Green (1935) British philosopher

The Decline and Fall of Science (1976)

““I didn’t want to scare you. We don’t want to scare anyone.”
“No? Well, sometimes it’s a good thing to scare people. Sometimes fear is all that will keep them from doing stupid things.””

Octavia E. Butler book Adulthood Rites

Part II “Phoenix” chapter 15 (p. 381).
Adulthood Rites (1988)

“And this shows that sometimes people want to be stupid and they do not want to know the truth.”

Mark Haddon book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Source: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

“Passion often renders the most clever man a fool, and even sometimes renders the most foolish man clever.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

La passion fait souvent un fou du plus habile homme, et rend souvent les plus sots habiles.
Variant translation: Passion often makes a fool of the cleverest man and often makes the most foolish men clever.
Maxim 6.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“To be clever enough to get all that money, one must be stupid enough to want it.”

G. K. Chesterton book The Innocence of Father Brown

The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Paradise of Thieves
The Father Brown Mystery Series (1910 - 1927)

“Sometimes one must be base in order not to be tricked by a clever man.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Il suffit quelquefois d'être grossier pour n'être pas trompé par un habile homme.
Maxim 129.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“It can’t eat him. I forbid it. (Artemis)
She can do as she pleases. I taught her to waste not, want not. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

“Who saves his country, saves himself, saves all things, and all things saved do bless him! Who lets his country die, lets all things die, dies himself ignobly, and all things dying curse him!”

Benjamin Harvey Hill (1823–1882) American politician

Reported in Benjamin H. Hill, Jr., Senator Benjamin H. Hill of Georgia; His Life, Speeches and Writings (1893), epigraph, p. 594. From "Notes on the Situation", a series of articles appearing in the Chronicle and Sentinel, Atlanta, Georgia.

“Patrick’s a very prolific writer. He’s a one-of-a-kind kind of guy. You’ve got to let him do his thing. You don’t want to get too up in his grill, sort of speak.”

Joe Trohman (1984) American musician

My Heart Will Always Be The B-Side To My Tongue (2004), Ultimate Guitar Interview (2008)

“Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

John Steinbeck 366

Related quotes

Related topics