Life & Wisdom Quote by O. Henry

O. Henry opens with a mock-confessional flourish that turns appetite into philosophy. "By nature and doctrines" sounds like a man defending a creed, but what he’s really sanctifying is the low art of finding a good meal (or a good angle) wherever he lands. The humor is in the inflation: he treats scavenging for "choice places" as if it were a moral and intellectual system, the way a hustler might dress up street smarts as destiny. "Addicted" adds another sly twist. It’s self-accusation with a wink, casting a perfectly ordinary desire as an irresistible vice.

The subtext is classic O. Henry: the city as a buffet of opportunities, and the storyteller as a predator-gourmet. "Feed" isn’t only literal. It’s also the writer’s hunger for scenes, characters, and turn-of-the-century textures: lunch counters, boarding houses, backroom cafes, the little pockets of warmth where the poor and the hopeful regroup. Calling them "choice places" suggests discernment, even connoisseurship, but also implies a world where comfort is scarce and must be hunted.

Context matters because O. Henry made a career out of nimble survival narratives: small-time schemes, chance encounters, people trying to get by with style. This line frames that sensibility as instinct plus ideology. It’s not just that he likes to eat well; it’s that he believes in the search itself - a comic, restless ethic that mirrors his plots, always sniffing out the next pocket of sweetness before the bill comes due.