It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.

My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here.

When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there.

For every man in the world functions to the best of his ability, and no one does less than his best, no matter what he may think about it.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition,” he wrote. “I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.

Each man is different. Each man must follow his own path. Each man is the same. Each man must follow his own path.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition... I have no other so great as that of being truely esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.

I believe it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world depended on him. Admittedly, one man by himself cannot do the job. However, one man can make a difference. We must live for the future of the human race, and not for our own comfort or success.

En estos momentos tuve una certeza fulminante: cada uno tenía una “misión”, pero ésta no podía ser elegida, definida, administrada a voluntad. Era un error desear nuevos dioses, y completamente falso querer dar algo al mundo. No existía ningún deber, ninguno, para el hombre consciente, excepto el de buscarse a sí mismo, afirmarse en su interior, tantear un camino hacia adelante sin preocuparse de la meta a que pudiera conducir. Aquel descubrimiento me conmovió profundamente, este fue el fruto de aquella experiencia. Yo había jugado a menudo con imágenes del futuro y soñado con papeles que pudieran estar destinados de poeta quizás, de profeta, de pintor o de cualquier otra cosa. Aquellas imágenes no valían nada. Yo no estaba en el mundo para escribir, predicar o pintar; ni yo ni nadie estaba para eso. Tales cosas sólo podían surgir marginalmente. La misión verdadera de cada uno era llegar a sí mismo. Se podía llegar a poeta o a loco, a profeta o a criminal; ese no es asunto de uno: a fin de cuentas, carecía de toda importancia. Lo que importaba era encontrar su propio destino, no un destino cualquiera, y vivirlo por completo. Todo lo demás eran medianías, un intento de evasión, de buscar refugio en el ideal de la masa, era amoldarse; era miedo ante la propia individualidad. La nueva imagen surgió terrible y sagrada ante mis ojos, presentido múltiples veces, quizás pronunciada ya otras tantas, pero nunca vivida hasta ahora. Yo era un proyecto de la naturaleza, un proyecto hacia lo desconocido, quizá hacia lo nuevo, quizá hacia la nada; y mi misión, mi única misión, era dejar realizarse este proyecto que brotaba de las profundidades. Sentir en mí su voluntad e identificarme con él por completo.

Every man in the world is better than someone else and not as good as someone else.

Every man's happiness is his own responsibility.

It's not enough merely to exist. Every man has to seek in his own way to make his own self more noble and to relize his own true worth.

Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.