"How’d I know? I’m jus’ puttin’ one foot in front a the other. I done it at Mac for four years, jus’ marchin’ in cell an’ out cell an’ in mess an’ out mess. Jesus Christ, I thought it’d be somepin different when I come out!"
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 16. Tom Joad responds to Casy’s question about what he is going to do if there aren’t jobs for the hundreds of migrants heading for California. Tom sums up his philosophy by saying that prison taught him to live one day at a time. A little later he says: "I climb fences when I got fences to climb."