Progress and development, however, were conditional upon life, and he who has recourse to self-destruction sets an example of unseemly revolt against one of the most beautiful and comforting of all the laws of nature.

Moreover, suicide was a waste of force on which it was simply heartrending to have to look.

There were so many great deeds to be done which called for the laying down of life.

In a thousand different ways one might benefit mankind by Winkelried-like actions.

If one was determined to die, one should at least render thereby to those left behind one of those sublime services which demand the sacrifice of a life.
In their frequent conversations upon this subject, he was so earnest, so eloquent, so markedly intentional, that Wilhelm finally gave him the smiling assurance that he was preaching to a convert.