John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

"I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen."

"Like most modern people, I don't believe in prophecy or magic and then spend half my time practicing it."

"Strength and success - they are above morality, above criticism. It seems, then, that it is not what you do, but how you do it and what you call it. Is there a check in men, deep in them, that stops or punishes? There doesn't seem to be. The only punishment is for failure. In effect no crime is committed unless a criminal is caught."