Will

The axis: will as the essence of life, an instrument of achievement, an object
of discipline — or a blind force and needless straining, to be renounced.

Will as essence and engine

Nietzsche (nietzsche) — life is will to power, not self-preservation; everything living seeks to discharge its strength, and morality is merely its symptom. Grounding: zhizn-est-volya-k-vlasti, volya-k-vlasti.
Smiles (smiles) — it is will, not talent, that decides: the energy of will is "the Man himself", and perseverance matters more than genius. Grounding: reshaet-volya-a-ne-talant, energy-and-courage.
Hill (hill) — decision against drifting: postponing a decision is a form of defeat; desire is the starting point of all achievement. Grounding: reshimost-protiv-drifta, zhelanie-nachalo-vsego.
James Allen (james-allen) — aimlessness is a vice: thought joined to purpose becomes the creative force of destiny. Grounding: bescelnost-eto-porok, thought-and-purpose.

Will is disciplined and directed

Epictetus (epictetus) — the will (proairesis) is the only thing truly our own; the discipline of desire and aversion is the first of the three disciplines. Grounding: proairesis, zhelanie-i-izbeganie, distsiplina-zhelaniya.
Ignatius of Loyola (ignatius) — the will is trained against inclination (agere contra) and subordinated to the end for which man is created. Grounding: agere-contra, deystvuy-naperekor, chelovek-sozdan-dlya-tseli.
Wattles (wattles) — apply the will to yourself alone: do not force the world, hold yourself to the Certain Way of thinking and acting. Grounding: volyu-primenyay-tolko-k-sebe, opredelyonny-sposob.
Goethe (goethe) — will without self-mastery is ruinous: activity requires knowledge and measure, and freedom is power over oneself. Grounding: svoboda-i-samoobladanie, deyatelnost-trebuet-znaniya-i-mery.

Will is blind, or superfluous

Schopenhauer (schopenhauer) — the will-to-live is blind and insatiable: striving is futile, and satisfaction yields no positive good. Grounding: volya-k-zhizni, futilnost-stremleniya.
Laozi (laozi) — non-action (wu-wei) against resolute effort: the soft and weak overcomes the hard and strong, and forcing destroys what grows of itself. Grounding: wuwei, rouruo, myagkost-i-sila.

Axis of dispute: Nietzsche against Schopenhauer — affirmation of the will
against its renunciation; Laozi against Smiles and Hill — non-action against
the cult of resolve; Epictetus against Wattles — the will rules judgment but
does not summon externals.