"Yes," Lee said from the doorway, "and he deplores it. He hated it."
"Did he now?" Adam asked.
[...]
"Maybe the knowledge is too great and maybe men are growing too small," said Lee. "Maybe, kneeling down to atoms, they're becoming atom-sized in their souls. Maybe a specialist is only a coward, afraid to look out of his little cage. And think what any specialist misses – the whole world over his fence."
"We're only talking about making a living."
"A living – or money," Lee said excitedly. "Money's easy to make if it's money you want. But with few exceptions people don't want money. They want luxury and they want love and they want admiration."
"All right. But do you have any objection to college? That's what we're talking about."
"I'm sorry," said Lee. "You're right, I do seem to get too excited. No, if college is where a man can go to find his relation to his whole world, I don't object. Is it that?"
John Steinbeck, East of Eden (Penguin Books, 2000) pp. 652-653
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