Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat; the redeeming things are not happiness and pleasure but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.
Interpretation
Life involves struggle and challenges rather than mere happiness, and true satisfaction comes from overcoming these difficulties.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote encapsulates the idea that life is filled with hardships and defeats, and while people often pursue happiness and pleasure, these are not the ultimate sources of fulfillment. Instead, the deeper, more meaningful satisfactions arise from our struggles and the growth that comes from overcoming obstacles. This perspective encourages a more profound appreciation for the challenges we face, as they contribute significantly to our character and sense of achievement.
In practice
During a motivational speech about resilience, I might say, 'As F. Scott Fitzgerald put it, 'Life is essentially a cheat...' to emphasize the importance of overcoming challenges.
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.
I donβt want my thoughts to die with me, I want to have done something. Iβm not interested in power, or piles of money. I want to leave something behind. I want to make a positive contribution - know that my life has meaning.
Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.
The kindness that's been shown to me, by doctors as well as my family and my friends, it's really saved my life.
I breakfast when I get up, lunch when I get the chance. If I never get it, I forget it. Sometimes I dine at seven, sometimes at midnight, sometimes not at all; and I never get to bed until four or five in the morning. Everything depends on the news; the hours make no difference to me.
Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went.
If you were to go, and hopefully someday you will, you would see a lot of paintings of dead people. You'd see Jesus on the cross, and you'd see a dude get stabbed in the neck, and you'd see people dying at sea and in battle and a parade of martyrs. But Not. One. Single. Cancer. Kid. Nobody biting it from the plague or smallpox or yellow fever or whatever, because there is no glory in illness. There is no meaning to it. There is no honor in dying of.
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