What's most important?

“ Life is a constant struggle – 
we have to constantly remind ourselves
of what is most important ”

John Nollers

In Steinbeck's words

“Do you take pride in your hurt? Does it make you seem large and tragic? ...Well, think about it. Maybe you're playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience.”

“People like you to be something, preferably what they are.” 

“Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.”

“Maybe-- maybe love makes you suspicious and doubting. Is it true that when you love a woman you are never sure-- never sure of her because you aren't sure of yourself? ”

― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

The man who didn't care about all these things.

Many years ago Rudyard Kipling gave an address at McGill University in Montreal. He said one striking thing which deserves to be remembered. Warning the students against an over-concern for money, or position, or glory, he said: 

“ Some day you will meet a man who cares for none of these things.
Then you will know how poor you are. ”
 

Humanisme

“ Mais n'espère rien de l'homme s'il travaille pour sa propre vie et non pour son éternité. ”

 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
Citadelle (1948)

Excellence is subjective

“ Likewise we look in vain, east or west over the earth, to find the perfect man; but each represents only some particular excellence. ”

 Henry David Thoreau,
The landlord (1843)

Courage

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.”

 Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mike Horn & Jean Troillet, 4 Eights Thousands Exp.

Rythmus

"Je ne crois pas à la vitesse qui se fait passer pour du rythme"

Alexandre Astier

Please sir, tell me more about how I could have done better

“Criticism comes easier than craftmanship” 

Zeuxis, painter (5th century BC)

Prisoner of my own by shimoda7 (deviantart)

Is the unexamined life not worth living..?

“Often I go into some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am. There is no mystery about why this should be so. Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines…you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That is not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating.” 

Michael Crichton, Travels

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 1818