Man does not simply exist, but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment..

Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.

The first duty of a man is to think for himself

A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes — within the limits of endowment and environment — he has made out of himself.

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.

Man is what he wills himself to be.

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.

A man is what he wills himself to be.

Man is not only that which he conceives himself to be, but that which he wills himself to be...

What I am saying is that it is not so much what man is that counts as it is what he ventures to make of himself. To make the leap he must do more than disclose himself; he must risk a certain amount of confusion. Then, as soon as he does catch a glimpse of a different kind of life, he needs to find some way of overcoming the paralyzing moment of threat, for this is the instant when he wonders who he really is - whether he is what he just was or is what he is about to be.

In a word, man must create his own essence: it is in throwing himself into the world, suffering there, struggling there, that he gradually defines himself.

Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become the next moment. By the same token, every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.

A man has to know he had a choice before he can enjoy what he chose. I know now. That a human has to make it with other humans . . . before he can make it with himself.

A man has to BE something; he has to matter.