What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.

The line expresses a contrast principle: pleasure and comfort are intensified—and even made intelligible—by their opposites. “Warmth of summer” stands for ease, abundance, or happiness; “cold of winter” for hardship, scarcity, or sorrow. The quote suggests that adversity is not merely an interruption of the good life but part of what gives good experiences their “sweetness,” sharpening gratitude and perception. In a Steinbeckian register, it also hints at a naturalistic view of life as cyclical and balanced, where meaning arises from enduring change rather than escaping it.