Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman—a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal. – Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), Thus Spake Zarathustra, translated by M.A

I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me a generic character… by which to distinguish between Man and Ape. I myself most assuredly know of none. – Carl Linnaeus, 1788

Man will do many things to get himself loved; he will do all things to get himself envied. – Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897