# Quote — John Steinbeck, East of Eden

> I’ll have you know that a soldier is the most holy of all humans because he is the most tested — most tested of all. I’ll try to tell you. Look now — in all of history men have been taught that killing of men is an evil thing not to be countenanced. Any man who kills must be destroyed because this is a great sin, maybe the worst sin we know. And then we take a soldier and put murder in his hands and we say to him, “Use it well, use it wisely.” We put no checks on him. Go out and kill as many of a certain kind or classification of your brothers as you can. And we will reward you for it because it is a violation of your early training.

- 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: 24
- 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/ill-have-you

## 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)