Bohemia is nothing more than the little country in which you do not live. If you try to obtain citizenship in it, at once the court and retinue pack the royal archives and treasure and move away beyond the hills.
O. HenryRead
Love and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words when a man's starving!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that fundamental human needs overshadow all aspects of life.
O. Henry's quote reflects on the idea that in times of dire need, such as starvation, the complexities of love, business, family, religion, art, and patriotism become trivial. It underscores the importance of basic survival over abstract concepts, suggesting that when one's basic needs are not met, everything else loses its significance.
Themes
LoveBusinessFamilyReligionArtPatriotismStarvingBasic Needs
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about poverty and the importance of addressing hunger.
More from O. Henry
All quotes βIt's said that love makes the world go around. Let me tell you, the announcement lacks verification. It's the wind from the dinner horn that does it.
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Yes, I get dry spells. Sometimes I can't turn out a thing for three months. When one of those spells comes on I quit trying to work and go out and see something of life. You can't write a story that's got any life in it by sitting at a writing table and thinking. You've got to get out into the streets, into the crowds, talk with people, and feel the rush and throb of real life-that's the stimulant for a story writer.
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But the best, in my opinion, was the home life in the little flat--the ardent, voluble chats after the day's study; the cozy dinners and fresh, light breakfasts; the interchange of ambitions--ambitions interwoven each with the other's or else inconsiderable--the mutual help and inspiration; and--overlook my artlessness--stuffed olives and cheese sandwiches at 11 p.m.
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You can't appreciate home till you've left it, money till it's spent, your wife till she's joined a woman's club, nor Old Glory till you see it hanging on a broomstick on the shanty of a consul in a foreign town.
O. HenryRead
She had become so thoroughly annealed into his life that she was like the air he breathed--necessary but scarcely noticed.
O. HenryRead
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