# Quote — Tim Winton, Cloudstreet

> "You've got mean, Oriel."
>
> She sniffs.
>
> "It is the war that's done it to you?"
>
> "It's all war," she said.
>
> "What is?"
>
> "I don't know. Everythin. Raisin a family, keepin yer head above water. Life. War is our natural state."
>
> "Well, struggle maybe," said Lester.
>
> "No, no, it's war."

- Author: [Tim Winton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton.md)
- Book: [Cloudstreet](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet.md)
- Page: 233
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Winton#Cloudstreet_(1991)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet/youve-got-mean

## More from this book

> Oriel looked at the potatoes in her hand and thought of the things she'd like to tell the spud growers of Australia about taking a little time, a little pride and a little care.

p. 266 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet/oriel-looked-at-the.md)

> Why was it that he didn't know a thing about the underlying nature of people, the shadows and shifts, the hungers and hopes that caused them to do the things they did?

p. 267 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet/why-was-it-that.md)

> "It does you good to be tenants. It reminds you of your own true position in the world."

p. 416 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet/it-does-you.md)