--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Too many lives are needed to make just one." description: "\"Too many lives are needed to make just one.\" — Eugenio Montale" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02c/eugenio-montale-14916_character_too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-o_1998894.png" --- # Too many lives are needed to make just one. ![“Too many lives are needed to make just one.” quote by Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02c/eugenio-montale-14916_character_too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-o_1998894.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02c/eugenio-montale-14916_character_too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-o_1998894.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02c/eugenio-montale-14916_character_too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-o_1998894.png) > “Too many lives are needed to make just one.” [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Many lives are sacrificed for a single purpose. **In simple terms:** Great costs for one outcome. Key Takeaway Consider the value of each life. Themes sacrifice value existence Mood somber thoughtful Type poetic ethical When to use this quote - war - politics - family decisions - resource allocation Key Concepts ethics economics philosophy Questions to Reflect On - Is the sacrifice justified? - What alternatives exist? A Different Perspective May overlook individual dignity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Just one](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/just-one/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Lives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lives/) [Lives Needed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lives-needed-3505007/) [Make Just](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/make-just-499325/) [Needed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needed/) [Needed Make](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needed-make-837490/) ## Related quotes > [Make someone happy, Make just one someone happy, And you will be happy, too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-durante/make-someone-happy-make-just-one-someone-happy-and-you-will-be-happy/) [Jimmy Durante](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-durante/) > [I needed to make my wig ogg because I no longer wanted to apologize for who I am](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viola-davis/i-needed-to-make-my-wig-ogg-because-i-no-longer-wanted-to-apologize/) [Viola Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viola-davis/) > [Money is a resource for me and it is needed to make music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/badshah/money-is-a-resource-for-me-and-it-is-needed-to-make-music/) [Badshah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/badshah/) > [I wanted to make the album I always needed to make. I had to say the things I never could.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyndi-lauper/i-wanted-to-make-the-album-i-always-needed-to-make-i-had-to-say-the/) [Cyndi Lauper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyndi-lauper/) > [Maybe I needed to make like a potato, winnow myself down, be part of something that was not easy, just simple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-powell/maybe-i-needed-to-make-like-a-potato-winnow-myself-down-be-part-of/) [Julie Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-powell/) > [“It was he who needed to make it happen. It was he who would have to come to the realization that he could never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-dieu/it-was-he-who-needed-to-make-it-happen-it-was-he-who-would-have-to/) [Shirley Dieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-dieu/) > [Early on I did all the production for UGK, like on 'Southern Way.' Yeah, 90 percent of the production and not for any other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pimp-c/early-on-i-did-all-the-production-for-ugk-like-on-southern-way-yeah/) [Pimp C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pimp-c/) > [“My end game was to do whatever needed to be done to make Sam mine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-t-dyllin/my-end-game-was-to-do-whatever-needed-to-be-done-to-make-sam-mine/) [D.T. Dyllin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-t-dyllin/) > [“He needed me to make it okay.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damon-suede/he-needed-me-to-make-it-okay/) [Damon Suede](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damon-suede/) > [I know how to create and make people feel something. Honestly, if I didn't do this, I would just have some minimum-wage job in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freddie-prinze-jr/i-know-how-to-create-and-make-people-feel-something-honestly-if-i/) [Freddie Prinze, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freddie-prinze-jr/) > [Our music is just perfect for us because we make it just how we want to her it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kings-of-leon/our-music-is-just-perfect-for-us-because-we-make-it-just-how-we-want/) [Kings Of Leon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kings-of-leon/) > [“I was thinking what everyone is thinking all of the time: How can I make this last just a little bit longer?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-lutz/i-was-thinking-what-everyone-is-thinking-all-of-the-time-how-can-i/) [Lisa Lutz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-lutz/) > [“Whenever you're at a loss for what move to make next, just ask yourself, "What would make a betterstory?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-kleon/whenever-you-re-at-a-loss-for-what-move-to-make-next-just-ask/) [Austin Kleon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-kleon/) > [You can make just about anything good with ketchup, just not a marriage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/below-zero/you-can-make-just-about-anything-good-with-ketchup-just-not-a-marriage/) [Below Zero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/below-zero/) > [Unable to make what is just strong, we have made what is strong just.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/unable-to-make-what-is-just-strong-we-have-made-what-is-strong-just/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) ## More by Eugenio Montale > [In reality art is always for everyone and for no one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/in-reality-art-is-always-for-everyone-and-for-no-one/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [“No writer in our time has been more isolated than Kafka, and yet few have achieved communication as well as he did.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/no-writer-in-our-time-has-been-more-isolated-than-kafka-and-yet-few/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [I have been judged to be a pessimist but what abyss of ignorance and low egoism is not hidden in one who thinks that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/i-have-been-judged-to-be-a-pessimist-but-what-abyss-of-ignorance-and/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/forests-lakes-and-rivers-clouds-and-winds-stars-and-flowers/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [Happiness, for you we walk on a knife edge. To the eyes you are a flickering light, to the feet, thin ice that cracks;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/happiness-for-you-we-walk-on-a-knife-edge-to-the-eyes-you-are-a/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [Strangely, Dante's Divine Comedy did not produce a prose of that creative height or it did so after centuries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/strangely-dante-s-divine-comedy-did-not-produce-a-prose-of-that/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [I have always knocked at the door of that wonderful and terrible enigma which is life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/i-have-always-knocked-at-the-door-of-that-wonderful-and-terrible/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [Holidays - Have no pity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/holidays-have-no-pity/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [There is also poetry written to be shouted in a square in front of an enthusiastic crowd. This occurs especially in countries where authoritarian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/there-is-also-poetry-written-to-be-shouted-in-a-square-in-front-of-an/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [Many of today's verses are prose and bad prose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/many-of-today-s-verses-are-prose-and-bad-prose/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [Against the dark background of this contemporary civilization of well-being, even the arts tend to mingle, to lose their identity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/against-the-dark-background-of-this-contemporary-civilization-of-well/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [Man cannot produce a single work without the assistance of the slow, assiduous, corrosive worm of thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/man-cannot-produce-a-single-work-without-the-assistance-of-the-slow/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [There is poetry even in prose, in all the great prose which is not merely utilitarian or didactic: there exist poets who write in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/there-is-poetry-even-in-prose-in-all-the-great-prose-which-is-not/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [However, poetry does not live solely in books or in school anthologies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/however-poetry-does-not-live-solely-in-books-or-in-school-anthologies/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) > [The real history, the one that counts and is not to be found in books, is precisely this one, the one made by simple…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/the-real-history-the-one-that-counts-and-is-not-to-be-found-in-books/) [Eugenio Montale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) [Explore all 36 Eugenio Montale quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/) ## More Character quotes > [This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-honeyman/this-may-sound-strange-but-although-i-feel-like-i-know-everything/) [Gail Honeyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-honeyman/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I'm often moved by the circumstances around some of my characters, but I don't think I've actually cried watching myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-winslet/i-m-often-moved-by-the-circumstances-around-some-of-my-characters-but/) [Kate Winslet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-winslet/) > [When you're on a daytime drama you get one page, you better damn well know your character. You better know what she would do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hudgins/when-you-re-on-a-daytime-drama-you-get-one-page-you-better-damn-well/) [David Hudgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hudgins/) > [It can sometimes make people fold into themselves and kind of run away, but I think in this case these characters are being forced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-deschanel/it-can-sometimes-make-people-fold-into-themselves-and-kind-of-run/) [Emily Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-deschanel/) > [If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-well-mannered-towards-those-whose-views-are-similar-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. Truman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-s-truman/) > [In the fight between biology and morality, biology has commonly won in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/semir-zeki/in-the-fight-between-biology-and-morality-biology-has-commonly-won-in/) [Semir Zeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/semir-zeki/) > [Your looks don't make you pretty, it's the person inside who makes you pretty!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-chan/your-looks-don-t-make-you-pretty-it-s-the-person-inside-who-makes-you/) [Aaron Chan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-chan/) > [I'm not a huge social media kind of guy, so I don't really know, I don't really ever get... at least in real life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freddie-stroma/i-m-not-a-huge-social-media-kind-of-guy-so-i-don-t-really-know-i-don/) [Freddie Stroma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freddie-stroma/) > [If you stood me in a costume next to a computer graphic of the same-looking character, I think there would be a difference. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warwick-davis/if-you-stood-me-in-a-costume-next-to-a-computer-graphic-of-the-same/) [Warwick Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warwick-davis/) > [Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/courage-the-most-important-of-all-the-virtues-because-without-courage/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [I'm a character actor - always have been, always will be - and historically, character actors don't come into their own until later in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-potts/i-m-a-character-actor-always-have-been-always-will-be-and/) [Annie Potts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-potts/) [Browse all 32,707 Character quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Too many lives are needed to make just one.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eugenio Montale" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-one/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Character" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-one/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02c/eugenio-montale-14916_character_too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-o_1998894.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02c/eugenio-montale-14916_character_too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-o_1998894.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02c/eugenio-montale-14916_character_too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-o_1998894.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Too many lives are needed to make just one.” — Eugenio Montale", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Eugenio Montale", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugenio-montale/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Too many lives are needed to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-one/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugenio-montale/too-many-lives-are-needed-to-make-just-one/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```