Man adapts himself to everything, to the best and the worst.
Jose Ortega Y GassetRead
There are people who so arrange their lives that they feed themselves only on side dishes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that some people live superficially, focusing only on the less important aspects of life.
In this quote, Jose Ortega Y Gasset implies that many individuals structure their lives in a way that they only pursue minor or trivial pleasures, neglecting the more substantial and fulfilling experiences that life has to offer. This metaphor of 'side dishes' highlights a lifestyle that may be filled with distractions and superficial joys, ultimately leading to a lack of fulfillment and meaning.
Themes
LifeSuperficialFulfillmentMeaningPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational talk about living fully and not settling for less.
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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