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
Man desired concord; but nature knows better what is good for his species; she desires discord. Man wants to live easy and content; but nature compels him to leave ease… and throw himself into roils and labors. – Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose, 1787