We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it.
Jose MartiRead
An insatiable appetite for glory leads to sacrifice and death, but innate instinct leads to self-preservation and life.
Interpretation
The desire for fame can result in severe consequences, while natural instincts prioritize survival and well-being.
The quote by Jose Marti highlights a fundamental conflict between the pursuit of glory and the instinctual drive for self-preservation. It suggests that an overwhelming desire for recognition and success can lead individuals to make significant sacrifices, often at great personal cost, including risking their lives. In contrast, innate instincts, which prioritize survival and life, should guide individuals towards more meaningful and sustainable choices.
In practice
In a motivational speech about following one's true path and avoiding unnecessary risks.
We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it.
Like bones to the human body, the axle to the wheel, the wing to the bird, and the air to the wing, so is liberty the essence of life. Whatever is done without it is imperfect.
Men have no special right because they belong to one race or another: the word man defines all rights.
Other famous men, those of much talk and few deeds, soon evaporate. Action is the dignity of greatness.
Man is a living duty, a depository of powers that he must not leave in a brute state. Man is a wing.
Like stones rolling down hills, fair ideas reach their objectives despite all obstacles and barriers. It may be possible to speed or hinder them, but impossible to stop them.
I'd rather do a part because I want to, not because great things are expected of me.
Iβve been through all this before,β he says to his heart. β βYes, you have been through all this before,β replies his heart. βBut you have never been beyond it.
The answer is that we are not helpless in the face of our first impressions. They may bubble up from the unconscious - from behind a locked door inside of our brain - but just because something is outside of awareness doesn't mean it's outside of control.
You can take no credit for beauty at sixteen. But if you are beautiful at sixty, it will be your soul's own doing.
There is nothing stronger than gentleness.
What I always wanna tell young people now: Pay attention. This isn't gonna happen again. Rather than try to understand it as it's going along, have it go along for a while and then understand it.
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