Man adapts himself to everything, to the best and the worst.
Jose Ortega Y GassetRead
What makes a nation great is not primarily its great men, but the stature of its innumerable mediocre ones.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A nation's greatness is determined more by the everyday contributions of its common people rather than just its prominent leaders.
This quote emphasizes the idea that the strength and greatness of a nation come from the collective efforts and qualities of its average citizens rather than solely from the achievements of a few notable individuals. It suggests that the contributions of everyday people are essential to the fabric of society and that true greatness lies in the shared values and behaviors of the many.
Themes
NationGreatnessMediocreCitizensContribution
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service, one could quote this to highlight the importance of every individual's role.
More from Jose Ortega Y Gasset
All quotes β"Natural" man is always there, under the changeable historical man. We call him and he comes-a little sleepy, benumbed, without his lost form of instinctive hunter, but, after all, still alive. Natural man is first prehistoric man-the hunter.
Jose Ortega Y GassetRead
We have not reached ethical perfection in hunting. One never achieves perfection in anything, and perhaps it exists precisely so that one can never achieve it. Its purpose is to orient our conduct and to allow us to measure the progress accomplished. In this sense, the advancement achieved in the ethics of hunting is undeniable.
Jose Ortega Y GassetRead
I am myself and what is around me, and if I do not save it, it shall not save me.
Jose Ortega Y GassetRead
We fall in love when our imagination projects nonexistent perfection upon another person. One day, the fantasy evaporates and with it, love dies.
Jose Ortega Y GassetRead
Life is a terrible conflict, a grandiose and atrocious confluence. Hunting submerges man deliberately in that formidable mystery and therefore contains something of religious rite and emotion in which homage is paid to what is divine, transcendent, and in the laws of Nature.
Jose Ortega Y GassetRead
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