Philosophy
Dobbs is often used as a foil for Howard's philosophical comments on the value of gold and one's responsibilities to one's companions. For example, the Marxist exchange in the Oso Negro flophouse:
Howard: Say, answer me this one, will you? Why is gold worth some twenty bucks an ounce?
Dobbs: I don't know. Because it's scarce.
Howard: A thousand men, say, go searchin' for gold. After six months, one of them's lucky: one out of a thousand. His find represents not only his own labor, but that of nine hundred and ninety-nine others to boot. That's six thousand months, five hundred years, scramblin' over a mountain, goin' hungry and thirsty. An ounce of gold, mister, is worth what it is because of the human labor that went into the findin' and the gettin' of it.
Dobbs: I never thought of it just like that.
Howard: Well, there's no other explanation, mister. Gold itself ain't good for nothing except making jewelry with and gold teeth.
Read more about this topic: The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (film)
Famous quotes containing the word philosophy:
“A philosopher once said, “Half of good philosophy is good grammar.””
—A.P. Martinich (b. 1946)
“And new Philosophy calls all in doubt,
The element of fire is quite put out;
The Sun is lost, and th’earth, and no mans wit
Can well direct him where to look for it.”
—John Donne (c. 1572–1631)
“The Greeks, with their truly healthy culture, have once and for all justified philosophy simply by having engaged in it, and having engaged in it more fully than any other people.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)