A great step towards independence is a good-humored stomach. Letters from a Stoic

It was the first rift in my father’s sanctity, it was the first nick in the pillars on which my childish life had rested, and which every human being must destroy before he can become himself. It is of these experiences, invisible to everyone, that the inner, essential line of our destiny consists. That kind of rift and nick closes over again, it is healed and forgotten, but in the most secret chamber of the mind it continues to live and bleed. Demian

"Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure." The Analects of Confucius

“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People