Becoming Human Quotes

“Gilgamesh was called a god and a man; Enkidu was an animal and a man. It is the story of their becoming human together.”
― Herbert Mason, The Epic of Gilgamesh

“My path is made of poetry and music, characterized by rowdiness and sunflowers, and given life by everyone I have met along the way in this process of becoming human. (When I say "everyone," I don't mean just us ornery two-legged beings.)”
― Joy Harjo, Catching the Light

“You’re right. One has to be mad. [...] Do you remember about the prehistoric reptile, the an- cestor of man, the first to emerge from the mud in early Paleozoic times, a milliard years ago, who set out to live in the air and to breathe, even though he had no lungs? [...] Well, he was mad too. Absolutely bats. That’s why he tried. He’s the ancestor of us all, and we shouldn’t forget it. But for him we wouldn’t be here. He was as crazy as they come. We too have got to try. That's what progress is. By trying like him, perhaps we’ll wind up with the necessary organs, the organ of dignity, of decency, or of fraternity.”
― Romain Gary, The Roots of Heaven

“Depois desta crise Maurice tornou-se um homem. Até aqui - se for possível avaliar o ser humano - ele não merecera o afecto de ninguém, pois era convencional e mesquinho, traiçoeiro para com os outros porque para consigo próprio. Agora tinha para oferecer o maior dos dons. O idealismo e a violência que atravessaram a sua adolescência reuniram-se por fim, transformando-se em amor. Talvez ninguém quisesse esse amor, mas ele não podia envergonhar-se dele, porque era «ele», nem corpo nem alma, nem corpo e alma, «ele» a funcionar através de ambos. Sofria ainda, mas chegara algures uma sensação de vitória. A dor mostrara-lhe um nicho, atrás dos juízos do mundo, para onde podia retirar-se.
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P.71, MAURICE, E.M. FORSTER

After this crisis Maurice became a man. Hitherto — if human beings can be estimated — he had not been worth anyone's affection, but conventional, petty, treacherous to others, because to himself. Now he had the highest gift to offer. The idealism and the brutality that ran through boyhood had joined at last, and twined into love. No one might want such love, but he could not feel ashamed of it, because it was "he," neither body or soul, nor body and soul, but "he" working through both. He still suffered, yet a sense of triumph had come elsewhere. Pain had shown him a niche behind the world's judgements, whither he could withdraw.”
― E.M. Forster, Maurice

“the love for life, and not only the wish to remain alive”
― Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving

“After all, we emerged from the mud some millions of years ago, and although we got rid of our scales, there is still a long way to go before we become really human — but one of these days we shall triumph over our limitations, over the harsh biological law which has been imposed upon us. Our friend was right: it’s an inhuman law, and it’s high time to change it.Then all that will be left of the infirmity and the challenge of being a man will be one more cast skin by the side of our
track.”
― Romain Gary, The Roots of Heaven

“Life is not a series of tasks to be completed but a sacred dance to be savored, where every breath, every heartbeat, is an invitation to commune with the mystery of life.”
― Alma Camino

“Death prepares the new, purely spiritual birth, access to a mode of being not
subject to the destroying action of Time.”
― Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation