# Quote — John Steinbeck, The Pearl

> For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.

- Author: [John Steinbeck](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck.md)
- Book: [The Pearl](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-pearl.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#The_Pearl_(1947)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-pearl/for-it-is-said

## More from this book

> A plan is a real thing, and things projected are experienced. A plan once made and visualized becomes a reality along with other realities—never to be destroyed but easily to be attacked.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-pearl/a-plan-is-a-real.md)

> For every man in the world functions to the best of his ability, and no one does less than his best, no matter what he may think about it.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-pearl/for-every-man.md)

> He had said, "I am a man," and that meant certain things to Juana. It meant that he was half insane and half god. It meant that Kino would drive his strength against a mountain and plunge his strength against the sea. Juana, in her woman's soul, knew that the mountain would stand while the man broke himself; that the sea would surge while the man drowned in it. And yet it was this thing that made him a man, half insane and half god, and Juana had need of a man; she could not live without a man. Although she might be puzzled by these differences between man and woman, she knew them and accepted them and needed them. Of course she would follow him, there was no question of that. Sometimes the quality of woman, the reason, the caution, the sense of preservation, could cut through Kino's manness and save them all.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-pearl/he-had-said.md)