“We each devise our means of escape from the intolerable.”

“Liberating tolerance, then, would mean intolerance against movements from the Right, and toleration of movements from the Left.”

Herbert Marcuse book An Essay on Liberation

“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

“Leisure is only possible when we are at one with ourselves. We tend to overwork as a means of self-escape, as a way of trying to justify our existence.”

Josef Pieper (1904–1997) German philosopher

“Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotion know what it means to want to escape from these.”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

“Science devises ever bloodier means of war until humanity’s powers of destruction overcome our powers of creation and our civilisation drives itself to extinction.”

David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas

“We can change our future, but we cannot escape our destiny. That is why life is a journey, not a destination. All roads lead to Rome, but our actions and inaction determine the meaning of our life regardless of the outcome.”

Newton Lee American computer scientist

“The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …

“To escape from the world means that one's mind is not concerned with the opinions of the world.”

Dogen (1200–1253) Japanese Zen buddhist teacher