"One could construe the life of man..." - Quote by Soren Kierkegaard
One could construe the life of man as a great discourse in which the various people represent different parts of speech (the same might apply to states).
More by Soren Kierkegaard
“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!”
“Irony is a disciplinarian feared only by those who do not know it, but cherished by those who do”
“Had I to carve an inscription on my tombstone I would ask for none other than "The Individual."”
More on Life
“Live with passion!”
“I have a dream! To be free at last! Free at last! Free at last. And if a man has nothing to die for, Then his life is worth nothing.”
“Enjoyment is an art and a skill for which we have little talent or energy... your entire education has has deprived you of this capacity because it was preparing you for the future, instead of showing you how to be alive now.”
More on Humanity
“If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.”
“Human beings are the only creatures who blush - or who need to.”
“Man's conquest of Nature, if the dreams of some scientific planners are realized, means the rule of a few hundreds of men over billions upon billions of men. There neither is nor can be any simple increase of power on Man's side. Each new power won by man is a power over man as well.”