It’s all well and good to work hard, but we must always question ourselves as to why we do so. It is often that we push ourselves to the point that we have lost sight of who we are or what our goal is.

This quote comes from a very minor character in Persona 4, but the meaning of her words are no less potent. Coming from someone who has lost the man that she holds dearest to her heart, she expresses how lacklustre her life has become, almost like it seems to be going somewhere. Never lose sight of who you are and what you hold dear, for they bring meaning to your work and all that you do.

These are the words of the man who learnt that he could hold nothing in his hands because of his ideals. Spoken to his younger self, he seeks to dissuade Shirou from pursuing the lonely path of being a selfless hero. It is a path that leads to ruin, whilst pushing away everyone who cares for him.

In reality, this applies as well. Helping others and making it our purpose to be a kind person can be all well and good, but we must always think of our own needs as well. There are times when it becomes okay to be selfish, because who could protect us best but ourselves?

Human life is fragile and limited. We never know when things can just end and sometimes we don’t even see it coming in our last moments. One day, it could all simply vanish before our eyes and we would have disappeared to the great beyond.

With her condition, Kaori knows this can happen at any moment. Instead of giving up, she chooses the opposite path. She lives each moment as if it could be her last, because it literally could be. For those of us who still have long lives ahead, it might not be as long as we think. So each and every moment should be cherished and lived to the fullest.

So says Saitama, about the scientist who was seeking the ultimate power of humanity through forced evolution. The truth in the end, is that the greatest power of humanity lies within itself, and can be attained by anyone. That is the power of change, the ability we all possess to adapt and become stronger.

All humans are weak creatures. It is how these weak creatures fight and grow, that they eventually become strong. If you are weak, don’t despair. Fight! Fight for a better tomorrow and the change which you despise. You are after all, human.

One of the strongest, and arguably the strongest mages, in Fairy Tail feels fear. The man who can move mountains and split apart the strongest attacks has the ability to feel fear. And that is because one can only be the strongest through fear. We all feel it every day in our lives. The key is what to do with it.

We could back down from it. And then we would hit a dead end that goes nowhere. Or we could face it. Fear is real. But fear itself is not something to be feared. It makes us stronger, and at the end, we can look back on what we feared and laugh at it, for we have become strong.

There will come a time when everyone feels completely helpless to do a thing. No matter how we struggle and shout at how unfair the world is, nothing changes. This is no truer than for Portgas D. Ace, the man who was the son of the Pirate King. He has spent each and every day living under the shadow of what is seen to be the ultimate evil.

Yet, he speaks through. There doesn’t need to be a grand plan or dream. Some days, it’s enough to just get through it. Because there’s always tomorrow. And tomorrow…is a world of infinite possibilities.

Facing down the infamous leader of the Akatsuki, Naruto screams in defiance as he slams a fully powered Rasengan into his gut. A phrase made elegant in its simplicity, its meaning is simple. Don’t give up. Never give up.

Every time life brings us down, we scream in defiance to give up on making us give up. We won’t back down, and that’s the simple truth. The next time you feel like all is lost, give up, on making yourself give up!

Korosensei is a great teacher, able to teach almost all the required subjects in the school curriculum to a bunch of “failures”. But he packs some pretty good advice too. We fail all the time, and that is an indisputable fact. Sometimes, it’s our fault, or maybe it’s just the circumstances. Regardless of the fact, we can’t give up after every failure.

Failure is the path of the winner, or so they say. It is when we learn through our mistakes that we can chase the path of perfection. So fail once, and fail a thousand more times, because each time you do, you come closer to the result that you want.

When the going gets tough and hopeless, we just give up. What’s the point of trying if we have a 99% chance of losing anyway? It’s better to just give up while we can and save ourselves all the effort of pushing so hard.

But what about the 1% chance that we still hold in our hands? Giving up means we have a 100% chance of losing. At least if we tried, we still have a 1% chance of success. Something is better than nothing. We might lose if we try, but we will definitely lose if we don’t.

We’ve all done things that we regret. It’s easy to get lost in melancholy thinking of the “what if’s”, and how we could have done things differently. But whilst we do so, the world keeps spinning without us. Life moves ever onwards while we wallow in our tears and regrets.

At the end of the day, we can only move forward if we let go of the past. In this treacherous path of life, we will always have regrets. But regardless, we must move forwards, for we are human.