I had to keep keen night-watch at my ship's prow when it was driven along close under the cliffs. The ordinary man, blessed with comfort, cannot know what is suffered by those men who move in the farthest tracks of exile. That spirit, flying there alone, yells and incites me onto the whale-road, irresistibly over the expanses of the sea, because the joys of God are more inspiring to me than this dead life upon land, so soon gone after the brief lending.
Earthly wealth is by no means eternal.
Therefore the best of fames is the praise given to each man after his death, which, before he goes on his way, he must earn by good work on land against the malice of fiends, and by good deeds against the Devil. Then the children of men will praise him afterwards, and his glory shall live with the angels, and he shall abide in glory always, sharing glory with the host. Though his grave will shine with gold trappings, and though his brother will bury with him much treasure alongside his kinsmen, none of these precious things can go with him. Hoarding of gold in his lifetime will not help a sinful man when his soul is hauled before the presence of God's terrible power. A man should govern his headstrong will, and, trustworthy in his promises and pure in his way of living hold it firm.