We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it.
Jose MartiRead
Just as he who gives his life to serve a great idea is admirable, he who avails himself of a great idea to serve his personal hopes of glory and power is abominable, even if he too risks his life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the distinction between noble service to a great cause and self-serving ambition, even when both involve personal sacrifice.
Jose Marti's quote emphasizes the importance of intention behind one's actions. While sacrificing oneself for a noble idea is commendable, doing so for personal gain, even if it involves risk, is deemed morally reprehensible. This reflection invites us to evaluate our motivations and the ethical implications of our pursuits, urging a commitment to ideals that transcend personal ambition.
Themes
ServiceSacrificeAmbitionEthicsNobility
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about ethical leadership, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of serving a greater good.
More from Jose Marti
All quotes →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.
Jose MartiRead
Men have no special right because they belong to one race or another: the word man defines all rights.
Jose MartiRead
Other famous men, those of much talk and few deeds, soon evaporate. Action is the dignity of greatness.
Jose MartiRead
Man is a living duty, a depository of powers that he must not leave in a brute state. Man is a wing.
Jose MartiRead
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.
Jose MartiRead
Similar quotes
A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with - a man is what he makes of himself.
Alexander Graham BellRead
On the whole, infinity is a fairly palpable aspect of this business of publishing, if only because it extends a dead author's existence beyond the limits he envisioned, or provides a living author with a future he cannot measure. In other words, this business deals with the future which we all prefer to regard as unending.
Joseph BrodskyRead
I have remained true to my deepest convictions. I mean the courage of those who are born to be defeated, the weaknesses of the strong, and the tragedy of misunderstandings and missed opportunities, which I have done my best to treat as comedy—for otherwise how can we manage to bear it?
Penelope FitzgeraldRead
It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late.
Pearl S. BuckRead
Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.
Eric HofferRead
(on A History of Western Philosophy) I was sometimes accused by reviewers of writing not a true history but a biased account of the events that I arbitrarily chose to write of. But to my mind, a man without a bias cannot write interesting history - if, indeed, such man exists.
Bertrand RussellRead