“Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.”

“… The most worthy calling in life is that in which man can serve best his fellow man. … The noblest aim in life is to strive to live to make other lives better and happier.”

“He was repelled by the pettiness that reduced life to mere existence and that turned men into half-men. He wanted to lay his life on a balance, the other side of which was weighted with death. He wanted to make his every action, every day, yes, every hour and minute worthy of being measured against the ultimate, which is death.”

“Every man contemplates an angel in his future self”

“the brut first knows death when it dies, but man draws consciously nearer to it every hour that he lives; and this makes his life at times a questionable good even to him who has not recognised this character of constant anaihilation in the whole of life.”

“Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.”