Become Hard

You are born alone and will die alone. There is much to do in the middle.

  'Why so hard?' the kitchen coal once said to the diamond; 'for are we not close relations?'
  Why so soft? O my brothers, thus I ask you: are you not - my brothers?
  Why so soft, so pliant and yielding? Why is there so much denial, self-denial, in your hearts? So little destiny in your glance?
  And if you will not be destinies and inexorable ones, how can you - triumph with me?
  And if your hardness does not wish to flash and cut through, how can you one day - create with me?
  For all creators are hard. And it must seem bliss to you to press your hand on millennia as on wax.
  bliss to write on the will of millennia as on bronze -- harder than bronze, nobler than bronze. Only the noblest is perfectly hard.
  This new tablet, O my brothers, I put over you: Become hard!

You control only yourself. The rest vacillate and are blown about by the preoccupations of the moment and customs of the day.

They remain oblivious to the eternal. They will never do anything interesting or find anything good. If you adopt their lifestyle and lack of a worldview, neither will you.