1. "He developed a love for poor people he could not have conceived if he had not been poor himself."

                                                                                    p. 57

Adam roams the American West after his army enlistment and gains insights

into social conditions.

2. "I guess if a man had go shuck off everything he had, inside and out, he'd

manage to hide a few little sins somewhere for his discomfort.  They're the

last things we'll give up."

                                                                                    p. 168

Samuel says this after Adam confesses to feeling guilty over his rich

California farm but he might be in error since Adam's fortune, after all, was

amassed by his father who lied about is military career to get his highly

influential government job.

3. "I believe there are monsters born in the world to human parents. . . . The

face and body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or a malformed egg can

produce physical monsters, may not the same process produce a malformed soul?"

                                                                                     p. 72

The narrator remarks on the existence of evil in the world before applying the

appellation "monster" to Cathy.

4. "No one who is young is ever going to be old."

                                                                                    p. 91

The narrator describes prostitutes as lazy, stupid, irresponsible and blind to

future when they will lose their physical attributes.

5. "And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human

is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the

freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected."

                                                                                    p. 132

The narrator states his views of the individual creative mind and how it

should never be controlled by any group intent on socialization and conditioning.

6. "Some men are friends with the whole world in their hearts, and there are

others that hate themselves and spread their hatred around like butter on hot

bread."

                                                                                    p. 144

Samuel's statement to Louis Lippo's statement that it would be difficult to

kill a man you didn't know and didn't hate.

7. "In human affairs of danger and delicacy successful conclusion is sharply

limited by hurry.  So often, men trip by being in a rush. If one were properly

to perform a difficult and subtle act, he should first inspect the end to be

achieved and then, once he had accepted the end as desirable, he should forget it completely and concentrate solely on the means.  By this method he would not be moved by false action by anxiety or hurry or fear.  Very few people learn this."

                                                                                    p. 307

Narrator's observations about Kate (Cathy) who never hurries but waits

patiently, unperturbed, for opportunities to achieve and complete her evil

deeds.

8. "There are techniques of the human mind whereby, in its dark deep, problems are examined, rejected or accepted. Such activities sometimes concern facets a man does not know he had.  How often one goes to sleep troubled and full of pain, not knowing what causes the travail, and in the morning a whole new direction and clearness is there, maybe the result of the black reasoning. And again there mornings when ecstasy bubbles in the blood."                                                          

                                                                                    p. 327

On the train back from Samuel's funeral Adam sits in meditation.  Steinbeck believed deeply in the power of the individual mind and here describes its power.

9. "Perhaps the best conversationalist in the world is the man who helps others to talk."

                                                                                    p. 434

Adam, Lee and Will Hamilton remember their friend and father, Samuel Hamilton, and sing his praises. Samuel considers Adam to be a man "better than he was."

10.  "War. [is] a reversal of the rules where a man is permitted to kill all the humans he can." 

                                                                                    p. 520

When Adam takes the job on the draft board during World War I, he reflects

back upon his own war experiences and how much he detested it.