It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. … The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. – Soren Kierkegaard
[Man] is a specific organism of a specific nature that requires specific actions to sustain his life. . . . That which his survival requires is set by his nature and is not open to his choice. What is open to his choice is only whether he will discover it or not, whether he will choose the right goals and values or not. He is free to make the wrong choice, but not free to succeed with it. He is free to evade reality, he is free to unfocus his mind and stumble blindly down any road he pleases, but not free to avoid the abyss he refuses to see. . . . Man is free to choose not to be conscious, but not free to escape the penalty of unconsciousness: destruction.
Ayn Rand: “You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.”