# Quote — John Steinbeck, East of Eden

> I believe there are monsters born in the world to human parents. ... They are accidents and no one’s fault, as used to be thought. Once they were considered the visible punishments for concealed sins. And just as there are physical monsters, can there not be mental or psychic monsters born? 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? ... Sometimes when we are little we imagine how it would be to have wings, but there is no reason to suppose it is the same feeling birds have. No, to a monster, the norm must seem monstrous since everyone is normal to himself. ... To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolish.

- Author: [John Steinbeck](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck.md)
- Book: [East of Eden](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden.md)
- Page: 71
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/East_of_Eden_(novel)#Part_1) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden/i-believe-there

## More from this book

> You might get the idea that they howled truth and beauty the way a seal bites out the National Anthem on a row of circus horns.

p. 216 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden/you-might-get.md)

> I have wondered why it is that some people are less affected and torn by the verities of life and death than others.

p. 290 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden/i-have-wondered.md)

> He told me how a man, a real man, had no right to let sorrow destroy him. He told me again and again how I must believe that time would take care of it. He said it so often that I knew he was losing.

p. 283 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden/he-told-me-how.md)