O. Henry: Shadows of Words in Hunger
on Friday, September 26, 2014O. Henry Money Quotation saying the finer things in life cannot be appreciated by those without basic necessities and food. O. Henry said:
“Love and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words when a man’s starving” — O. Henry
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In this quote, O. Henry is emphasizing that basic human needs like food and survival must come before abstract concepts. When a person is starving, things like love, business, family, religion, art, and patriotism lose all real meaning. A starving person can think of nothing except finding their next meal.
So O. Henry is saying that as long as any person lacks food security, higher ideals that society often values become empty and irrelevant.
The best interpretation is that worldly and spiritual matters matter little when physical sustenance is lacking. O. Henry viewed fulfilling basic material needs as the foundation upon which all other parts of life must be built.