Man adapts himself to everything, to the best and the worst.
Jose Ortega Y GassetRead
There is but one way left to save a classic; to give up revering him and use him for our own salvation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
To preserve a classic, one must stop idolizing it and instead find personal meaning in it.
This quote suggests that the value of a classic work lies not only in its historic or cultural significance but also in its ability to resonate with contemporary individuals. Instead of merely revering the classic for its stature, we should actively engage with it and draw lessons that can assist us in our personal growth and understanding of life.
Themes
ClassicReverenceSalvationPersonal GrowthEngagement
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the importance of classical literature in personal development.
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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I don't believe in God but I'm very interested in her.
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