Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that even heroes have flaws and tragic stories beneath their heroic facade.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote implies that the perception of a hero is often accompanied by an underlying tragedy or complexity. It highlights the idea that heroism is not just about noble acts but also about the personal struggles and imperfections that define individuals. The contrast between heroism and tragedy serves as a reminder that every person, no matter how revered, has a story that includes suffering and flaws.
In practice
You could use this quote in a discussion about the complexities of celebrity culture.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
And if my heart be scarred and burned, The safer, I, for all I learned.
Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.
It's all about knowing that everybody that you see, everybody that you sit across from is a different aspect of yourself. So once you can accept yourself on every level, that's when everything opens up, that's when the party really begins.
Virtues, like viruses, have their seasons of contagion. When catastrophe strikes, generosity spikes like a fever. Courage spreads in the face of tyranny.
The people who say: 'You are what you eat' have always seemed addled to me. In my opinion, you are what you think, and if you don't think, you can eat all the meat in Kansas City and still be nothing but a vegetable.
To be great, be whole; Exclude nothing. Be whole in everything.
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