What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals — and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?
—Hamlet, Act II, Scene II (Arden Shakespeare)
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned them with glory and honor.
—Psalm 8:3-5 (Today's New International Version)
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
—Genesis 2:7 (Today's New International Version)
