Quixote cannot exist without Sancho Panza.

“Steinbeck’s latest book is an account of his experiences during a three-month tour of forty American states. He travelled in a small truck equipped with a cabin where he slept and kept his stores. He travelled incognito, his only companion being a black poodle…In a series of admirable explorations into local color, he rediscovers his country and its people. In its informal way this book is also a forceful criticism of society. The traveler in Rocinante – the name which he gave his truck – shows a slight tendency to praise the old at the expense of the new, even though it is quite obvious that he is on guard against the temptation. “I wonder why progress so often looks like destruction”, he says in one place when he sees the bulldozers flattening out the verdant forest of Seattle to make room for the feverishly expanding residential areas and the skyscrapers. It is, in any case, a most topical reflection, valid also outside America.”

Yes, a dog is a man’s best friend.

I learned how to be a friend from Charley.