Mark Twain on the relationship between fear and courage

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—
not absence of fear.
—Mark Twain

Albert Camus on the nature of real generosity

Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is present
Albert Camus

Yalom on the benefits of thinking about death

Though the physicality of death destroys us, the idea of death can save us.

From Irvin Yalom: Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death (SanFrancisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007)

Read on: http://www.timlebon.com/DeathAnxiety.html  for more on the theme of death anxiety.

Frankl on how experiences can give our life meaning

‘Let us ask a mountain-climber who has beheld the alpine sunset and is so moved by the splendour of nature that he feels cold shudders running down his spine - let us ask him whether after such an experience his life can ever again seem wholly meaningless’
Viktor Frankl (The Doctor and the Soul)

Frankl on the importance of humour

‘The attempt to develop a sense of humour and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learnt while mastering the art of living’
(Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning)

Jerry Seinfeld on the Road Less Travelled

Sometimes the road less travelled is less travelled for a reason

Philosopher Derek Parfit on the nature of the good life

What is best for people is a composite. It is not just their being in the conscious states that they want to be in. Nor is it just their having knowledge, engaging in rational activity, being aware of true beauty and the like… Each side put forward as sufficient something that was only necessary. Pleasure with many other kinds of object has no value. And, if they are entirely devoid of pleasure, there is no value in knowledge, rational activity, love or awareness of beauty. What is of value, or is good for someone, is to have both: To be engaged in these activities, and to be strongly wanting to do so (Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons)