When a child first catches adults out -- when it first walks into his grave little head that adults do not always have divine intelligence, that their judgments are not always wise, their thinking true, their sentences just -- his world falls into panic desolation. The gods are fallen and all safety gone. And there is one sure thing about the fall of gods: they do not fall a little; they crash and shatter or sink deeply into green muck. It is a tedious job to build them up again; they never quite shine. And the child's world is never quite whole again. It is an aching kind of growing.

More quotes by John Steinbeck

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"If it is right, it happens. The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away."

- John Steinbeck

Love

"What good is the warm of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness."

- John Steinbeck

Balance

"What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?"

- John Steinbeck

Balance

"If you’re in trouble, or hurt or need – go to the poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones."

- John Steinbeck

Compassion

"Beans are a warm cloak against economic cold."

- John Steinbeck

Compassion

More Growth Quotes

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"We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are."

- Max DePree

Growth

"How marvelous is the generation with which you deal. We have never had a generation its equal in all of the history of the Church. They are better educated. They are more familiar with the scriptures. I believe they pray with a greater measure of faith, have a greater desire to do the will of the Lord, are more active in the Church, go into the world as better prepared missionaries, and live to become better parents."

- President Gordon B. Hinckley

Growth

"Allow yourself the opportunity to get uncomfortable."

- Alex Toussaint

Growth

"All growth starts at the end of your comfort zone."

- Tony Robbins

Growth

"Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave."

- Mary Tyler Moore

Growth