# Quote — Matthew Stover, Blade of Tyshalle

> A human life is defined by its relationship with others: by its duty to its species. In the face of this duty, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are meaningless. What you call individual rights are merely the cultural fantasy of a failed civilization.

- Author: [Matthew Stover](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover.md)
- Book: [Blade of Tyshalle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle.md)
- Page: 74
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Matthew_Stover#Blade_of_Tyshalle_(2001)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle/a-human-life

## More from this book

> I read once, somewhere, that the way you know you've grown up is when your future death becomes a stone in your shoe: when you feel it with every step.

p. 23 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle/i-read-once.md)

> Only human, after all.

p. 417 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle/only-human-after.md)

> He had no idea what he should do now. Without destiny to guide him, he was lost in a vast, whistling darkness. Any direction he might choose was purely abitary; it would make no more sense, offer no more hope, than would sitting still. Which offered neither sense nor hope at all.

p. 426 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/matthew-stover/blade-of-tyshalle/he-had-no-idea.md)