Guy don't need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it jus' works the other way around. Take a real smart guy and he ain't hardly ever a nice fella. Ch.3, p.41
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The quote suggests that intelligence and niceness are not always correlated, sometimes inversely.
- In plain terms
- Smart people are not always nice, and nice people don't need to be smart.
- What can you take from it?
- Intelligence does not guarantee kindness.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is intelligence linked to kindness?
- How do we define nice?
Another view
Generalizing smart people as less nice can be a stereotype.
More from John Steinbeck
His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought. Ch.2, p.35
Permalink to quote #18 Crooks: Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Ch.4, p.72
Permalink to quote #20 George:I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be. Ch.2, p.33
Permalink to quote #17
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