East of Eden is my favorite book of all time. It's also quite possibly this subs as well, considering the amount of times it's talked about, championed, and recommended.
There's a lot of brilliant wisdom on the human condition that's so tenderly packaged in Steinbeck's magnum opus, case in point: "And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."
That's a line that still hits me. I was thinking about it the other day after hearing Julien Baker reference it on her latest album, and then I saw it on a recent r/AskReddit post on quotes that changed one's perspective, it came up again. (I recommend both the album and the r/askreddit page by the way).
But East of Eden is almost 700 pages! When reading it, it almost felt as if quotes like this were a dime a dozen. I almost wanted to underline the entire book: there's practically a stunning quote on every page.
Following this mindset, I was curious to know if anyone on here had any other particular favorites from it. I'd like to think that with the book being held in such high regard on here, a post like this would draw people like moths to light.
Thanks in advance!
TL; TR – The above quote from the book is probably its most popular, but considering that it's a book comprised of many great ones, what are some other favorites? And how did they impact you?
by thewickerstan