We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it.
Jose MartiRead
In this world, there must be a certain degree of honor just as there must be a certain amount of light. When there are many men without honor, there will always be some others who bear in themselves the honor of many men.
Interpretation
Honor is essential in society, and while many may lack it, some individuals carry the honor that represents the collective.
This quote by Jose Marti highlights the importance of honor in society, suggesting that just as light is necessary for visibility, honor is crucial for moral integrity. Even in times or situations where dishonor is prevalent, there remain individuals who embody and represent the true essence of honor, serving as beacons of moral righteousness for others.
In practice
During a speech on ethics, one might quote Jose Marti to emphasize the importance of honor in leadership.
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.
The social intuitionist model offers an explanation of why moral and political arguments are so frustrating: because moral reasons are the tail wagged by the intuitive dog. A dog’s tail wags to communicate. You can’t make a dog happy by forcibly wagging its tail. And you can’t change people’s minds by utterly refuting their arguments.
After a crisis we tell ourselves we understand why it happened and maintain the illusion that the world is understandable. In fact, we should accept the world is incomprehensible much of the time.
It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless hopes dampened through immersive dousings in the darkness which religions have explored. This is a particular priority for secular Americans, perhaps the most anxious and disappointed people on earth, for their nation infuses them with the most extreme hopes about what they may be able to achieve in their working lives and relationships.
Then others for breath of words respect, Me for my dumb thoughts, speaking in effect.
How hard it is, how bitter it is to become a man!
Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.
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