Charles C. Cook

“ That self-sacrifice, though the complement of justice and inseparable from it, is peculiarly the principle of growth, — even in the sphere of industrial relations where self interest is usually supposed to be the animating motive, — is the author's thesis.
By virtue of his self-consciousness the individual is in a continual process of self-making. Thoughts, feelings, and acts contribute to the evolution of the soul. This process of self-determination, of return unto the self, is the process of justice, the vital principle, the principle of individuality. ”

“ And if the individual makes himself, and if there are before him infinite possibilities of development, why do not these very facts presuppose the immortality of the soul?" Self-consciousness as the path to unselfishness, and altruism as the foundation of business enterprise, are daring theories, as bold as the epigram, "extremes meet." ”

“ There are two factors which must always be considered, — self and others, — and as a relation between these two his principle of action must be expressed. There are many variations of greater or less persistence: that arising from the highest grade of thought would place others as the centre of interest, and the self as a recipient of reflected good: this is the ethical principle, and in its practical application secures the highest development of society. ”

“ Since in the very individuality of the person there is the power to resist the environment, or to make it subservient to the self, a capability of persistence under change and at the same time capability to so react upon the self that the self is thereby self-produced, what is there to indicate that this process of self-making ever ceases? ”