# Quote — John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday

> No one knows how greatness comes to a man. It may lie in his blackness, sleeping, or it may lance into him like those driven fiery particles from outer space. These things, however, are known about greatness: need gives it life and puts it in action; it never comes without pain; it leaves a man changed, chastened, and exalted at the same time — he can never return to simplicity.

- Author: [John Steinbeck](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck.md)
- Book: [Sweet Thursday](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/sweet-thursday.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Sweet_Thursday_(1954)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/sweet-thursday/no-one-knows

## More from this book

> Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/sweet-thursday/men-do-change.md)

> Doc cried to no one, "Give me a little time! I want to think.[…] Everyone has something. And what has Suzy got? Absolutely nothing in the world but guts. She's taken on an atomic world with a sling-shot, and, by God, she's going to win! If she doesn't win there's no point in living any more.
>
> "What do I mean, win?" Doc asked himself. "I know. If you are not defeated, you win"

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/sweet-thursday/doc-cried-to-no-one.md)

> It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/sweet-thursday/it-is-a-common.md)