All man’s alibi’s are unacceptable: no gods are responsible for his condition; no original sin; no heredity and environment; no race, no caste, no father and no mother; no wrong-headed education, no governess, no teacher; not even an impulse or a disposition, a complex or a childhood trauma. Man is free; but his freedom does not look like the glorious liberty of the Enlightenment; it is no longer the gift of God. Once again, man stands alone in the universe, responsible for his condition, likely to remain in a lowly state, but free to reach above the stars.

Walter Kaufmann - on the Buddha’s last words.