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Through a marvelous law of natural compensation, he who gives of himself grows, and he who turns inward and lives from small pleasures, is afraid to share them with others, and only thinks avariciously of cultivating his appetites loses his humanity and becomes loneliness itself. He carries in his breast all the dreariness of winter. He becomes in fact and appearance an insect.

Jose Marti#83

HumanityGenerosityGrowthSelfIsolationLoneliness

About this quote

What does it mean?
Giving of yourself leads to growth, while selfishness and isolation lead to loneliness and loss of humanity.
In plain terms
Sharing yourself makes you grow, but hoarding pleasure makes you alone.
What can you take from it?
Generosity builds humanity; isolation destroys it.

Where it applies

  • personal development
  • social interaction
  • character building

Putting it to work

  • practice generosity
  • foster community

Questions to consider

  • How do you balance giving and self-care?
  • What defines humanity?

Another view

Boundaries are also necessary for healthy self-protection.

More from Jose Marti

  1. There are men who live contented through they live without decorum. Others suffer as if in agony when they see around them people living without decorum. There…

    Permalink to quote #82
  2. Man is not an image engraved on a silver dollar, with covetous eyes, licking lips and a diamond pin on a silver dickey. Man is a living duty, a depository of p…

    Permalink to quote #84
  3. It is the duty of man to raise up man. One is guilty of all abjection that one does not help to relieve. Only those who spread treachery, fire, and death out o…

    Permalink to quote #81

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