# Quote — John Steinbeck, East of Eden

> [The Hebrew] word timshel — Thou mayest — that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if Thou mayest — it is also true that Thou mayest not... [Thou mayest] makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth ... he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win.

- 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: 301
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/East_of_Eden_(novel)#Part_3) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden/the-hebrew-word

## 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)