--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I have never smuggled anything in my…" description: "\"I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier?\" — John Steinbeck" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dce/john-steinbeck-71_customs_i-have-never-smuggled-anything-in-my-lif_521387.jpg" --- # I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I… ![“I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier?” quote by John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dce/john-steinbeck-71_customs_i-have-never-smuggled-anything-in-my-lif_521387.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dce/john-steinbeck-71_customs_i-have-never-smuggled-anything-in-my-lif_521387.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dce/john-steinbeck-71_customs_i-have-never-smuggled-anything-in-my-lif_521387.jpg) > “I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier?” [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator feels guilt despite never having broken the law, highlighting internal moral conflict when confronting authority. **In simple terms:** Feeling guilty even when innocent. Key Takeaway Recognize and examine hidden anxieties. Themes guilt authority morality Mood reflective uneasy Type literary psychological When to use this quote - travel - customs checks - legal compliance - personal reflection Key Concepts psychology ethical introspection Questions to Reflect On - Why does authority trigger guilt? - What does this reveal about personal values? A Different Perspective Guilt may stem from societal conditioning, not actual wrongdoing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Customs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/customs/) [Guilt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guilt/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Smuggled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smuggled/) ## Related quotes > [“Maybe they want us to feel uneasy. Maybe they think we’ll make a mistake if they’re constantly breathing down our necks.’ I shivered violently,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosie-pugh/maybe-they-want-us-to-feel-uneasy-maybe-they-think-we-ll-make-a/) [Rosie Pugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosie-pugh/) > [What happens with you when you begin to feel uneasy, unsettled, queasy? Notice the panic, notice when you instantly grab for something. 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Takes a shoat to bring in pork.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/prayer-never-brought-in-no-side-meat-takes-a-shoat-to-bring-in-pork/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“And now submarines are armed with mass murder, our silly, only way of deterring mass murder.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/and-now-submarines-are-armed-with-mass-murder-our-silly-only-way-of/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“I’d think there are degrees of greatness,” Adam said. “I don’t think so,” said Samuel. “That would be like saying there is a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-d-think-there-are-degrees-of-greatness-adam-said-i-don-t-think-so/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“He was forever inventing a new way of doing an old thing and doing it better and quicker, but he never in his whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/he-was-forever-inventing-a-new-way-of-doing-an-old-thing-and-doing-it/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“You come back a changed man. 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In Yurrp writers are taken as seriously as Lana Turner's legs are in America…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-am-writing-this-from-what-we-americans-call-yurrp-in-yurrp-writers/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I write because I like to write. I find joy in the texture and tone and rhythm of words. 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It values order without constraint, rule by custom not by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/to-me-the-female-principle-is-or-at-least-historically-has-been/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [There will be no lasting peace either in the heart of individuals or in social customs until death is outlawed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/there-will-be-no-lasting-peace-either-in-the-heart-of-individuals-or/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities of higher education, for the full development of her faculties, forces of mind and body;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-cady-stanton/the-strongest-reason-for-giving-woman-all-the-opportunities-of-higher/) [Elizabeth Cady Stanton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-cady-stanton/) > [Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/society-everywhere-is-in-conspiracy-against-the-manhood-of-every-one/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [He that would travel for the entertainment of others, should remember that the great object of remark is human life. 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