“Perhaps it is not true that “a man becomes what he dreams”; but if he does not dream, what kind of a man is he?”
This quote is itself quoting Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman in the film Grey Owl (1999)
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Fausto Cercignani 65
Italian scholar, essayist and poet 1941Related quotes

“Creatures of a day! What is a man?
What is he not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being.”
Pythian 8, line 95-8; pages 162-3. (446 BC)
Context: Creatures of a day! What is a man?
What is he not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being. But when there comes to men
A gleam of splendour given of Heaven,
Then rests on them a light of glory
And blesséd are their days.
Source: The Future As History (1960), Chapter I, Part 3, The Future as the Mirror of the Past, p. 19

Petronius, as depicted in the novel, speaking to Marcus Vinicius,<!-- entirely fictional character, NOT the historical figure. --> in Ch. 1
Quo Vadis (1895)
Context: Pliny declares, as I hear, that he does not believe in the gods, but he believes in dreams; and perhaps he is right. My jests do not prevent me from thinking at times that in truth there is only one deity, eternal, creative, all-powerful, Venus Genetrix. She brings souls together; she unites bodies and things. Eros called the world out of chaos. Whether he did well is another question; but, since he did so, we should recognize his might, though we are free not to bless it.

“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”

“Man is a genius when he is dreaming.”
Variant: Man is a genius when he is dreaming.

“The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.”