Her smile and voice suggested the kind of excitement that comes when the first words in a long, silent relationship are spoken at last - a subtle exc… - Thomas Mann

No man remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself.

Consciousness of self was an inherent function of matter once it was organized as life, and if that function was enhanced it turned against the organism that bore it, strove to fathom and explain the very phenomenon that produced it, a hope-filled and hopeless striving of life to comprehend itself, as if nature were rummaging to find itself in itself - ultimately to no avail, since nature cannot be reduced to comprehension, nor in the end can life listen to itself.

For the sake of goodness and love, man shall let death have no sovereignty over his thoughts.