Success Quote by Jose Saramago

Saramago is allergic to the tidy moral of gratitude. This line reads like “be content,” but it lands closer to “be careful.” It’s less a hymn to simplicity than a warning about how quickly wanting can become self-sabotage. The sentence is built like a trap: “best” sounds like wisdom, “content” sounds like virtue, then the final clause snaps shut with fear - “so as not to lose everything.” He’s not praising restraint as saintliness; he’s sketching restraint as survival strategy in a world that punishes miscalculation.

The intent is pragmatic, almost bruised. Saramago, a novelist steeped in political disillusionment and systems that grind people down, often writes about how ordinary lives get wrecked by grand schemes, moral crusades, or the seductive logic of “just a bit more.” The subtext: there are moments when aspiration isn’t noble, it’s dangerous - not because desire is inherently corrupt, but because the stakes are asymmetrical. One more gamble, one more demand, one more act of pride can trigger a cascade: job, family, reputation, safety.

What makes it work is the way it turns “contentment” from a personality trait into a situational ethic. Not always. “There are times.” He’s refusing self-help absolutism. In Saramago’s universe, the moral question is rarely “What do I deserve?” It’s “What can I risk without feeding the machine that’s waiting to take it all?”