Mark Twain

"To give birth to an idea--to discover a great thought--an intellectual nugget, right under the dust of a field that many a brain plow had gone over before. To find a new planet, to invent a new hinge, to find the way to make the lightnings carry your messages. To be the first--that is the idea. To do something, say something, see something, before anybody else--these are the things that confer a pleasure compared with which other pleasures are tame and commonplace, other ecstasies cheap and trivial." -Innocents Abroad (p.174)

I liked this quote the moment I read it. I love the idea of "giving birth to an idea" and pushing the horizon. I feel like there is a deep human desire to discover meaning, and some constant burning need to find truth beneath the paradigms that are already in place.

This quote was found under the subheading "Originality," but I think it may be more than that. I think this quote speaks to curiosity, discovery, and human nature. I relate quite a bit to this desire to go and do and experience life in ways that transcend.

Mark Twain's insight reminded me of one of my favorite quotes is from a French song called Je Cours by Stromae. It translates roughly to something like this: 

"That's it, I was just born there.
I don't know where I'm going or where I am But everyone want to be there Somewhere out there in life. And I want to set my feet there But only my soul has access."

What I love about these quotes is that they articulate a snippet of the human experience. I think they're both about the pursuit of knowledge and understanding, and a desire to experience something that goes beyond our understanding of the world and our place in it. There is something about the unknown defines us, and perhaps experiencing it can give us deep insight into our own nature.

P.s. Here's the link to the song I was talking about. It's pretty existential if you're into that. http://youtu.be/wIrI_MOfxG0