Die meisten Menschen sind wie ein fallendes Blatt, das weht und dreht sich durch die Luft...
Andere aber, wenige, sind wie Sterne, die gehen eine feste Bahn, kein Wind erreicht sie, in sich selber haben sie ihr Gesetz und ihre Bahn. 
(Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha)

Love is not all: It is not meat nor drink

Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;

Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink

And rise and sink and rise and sink again;

Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,

Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;

Yet many a man is making friends with death

Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.

It well may be that in a difficult hour,

Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,

Or nagged by want past resolution's power,

I might be driven to sell your love for peace,

Or trade the memory of this night for food.

It well may be. I do not think I would.

(Edna St. Vincent Millay)