“If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.”
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Thomas Merton92
Priest and author 1915–1968Related quotes
Emile Zola (1840–1902) French writer (1840-1902)
As quoted in Writers on Writing (1986) by Jon Winokur.
Variant: If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.
Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) American futurist and self-described social engineer
There are many other options of organization for the future than those typically discussed today... In order to accomplish this task one must be free of bias and nationalism, and reflect those qualities in the design of policies. How would you approach that? This is a difficult project requiring input from many disciplines.
Source: Designing the Future (2007), p. 6-7
“I don't want you fellows sitting around asking me what to do. I want you to tell me what to do.”
George Marshall (1880–1959) US military leader, Army Chief of Staff
To his staffers, as quoted in General of the Army : George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman (1991) by Ed Cray, p. 591
“If you ask me what I want, I'll tell you. I want everything.”
Kathy Acker (1947–1997) American novelist, playwright, essayist, and poet
Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer
Source: Jellicoe Road
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
November, 1933
Diary entries (1914 - 1974)
“When they asked me what I wanted to be I said I didn't know.”
Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar
Source: The Bell Jar