Drew’s Reviews > East of Eden > Status Update

"Aron's training in worldliness was gained from a young man of no experience, which gave him the agility for generalization only the inexperienced can have."

This book keeps flooring me with stuff like this. How does someone stew down a person's character into this line? It feels so pseudo-intellectual to say this but this book's greatest strength is an understanding of human nature.

"We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is."

"the Hebrew word, the word timshel--'Thou mayest'--that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world."