Quotes about life
page 19

“Because the history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way.”

Michael Crichton book Jurassic Park

Source: Jurassic Park

Way, History

“Life is beautiful if you are on the road to somewhere”

Orhan Pamuk book The New Life

Source: The New Life

Beauty

“Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Change, Time

“I'm not saying it's going to be easy. Nothing in life is easy. But that's no reason to give up. You'll be surprised what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. After all, you only have one life, so you should try to make the most of it.”

Louis Sachar (1954) American writer of children's books

“Life is a nightmare that prevents one from sleeping.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Sleep

“Marla's philosophy of life, she told me, is that she can die at any moment. The tragedy of her life is that she doesn't.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“Oh, I am in love with life!”

Virginia Woolf book The Waves

Source: The Waves

Love

“The eternal life is given to those who live in the present.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-British philosopher

“The manner in which,, and Salomon de Tultie wrote, is the most usual, the most suggestive, the most remembered, and the oftener quoted; because it is entirely composed of thoughts born from the common talk of life.”

Blaise Pascal Pensées

Source: Pensées

Quotes

“Death is not the opposite of life but an innate part of it. By living our lives, we nurture death.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Variant: Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.
Source: Norwegian Wood

Death, Parting

“Friendship is the wine of life.”

Edward Young (1683–1765) English poet

Friendship, Wine

“Life is whatever we conceive it to be.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

Source: The Book of Disquiet

“Nietzsche said without music, life would be a mistake. To me, without books, life would be a mistake.”

Ernest J. Gaines (1933–2019) Novelist, short story writer, teacher

Books, Music

“Life isn't as serious as my mind makes it out to be.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Variant: Life isn't as serious as the mind makes it out to be.
Source: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

Motivational

“… and I discovered something: the meaning of my life was whatever I wanted it to be.”

Paulo Coelho book The Fifth Mountain

Source: The Fifth Mountain

“I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my life-style”

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

“Everything tends to make us believe that there exists a certain point of the mind at which life and death, the real and the imagined, past and future, the communicable and the incommunicable, high and low, cease to be perceived as contradictions.”

André Breton book Manifestoes of Surrealism

Source: Manifestoes of Surrealism

Death, Imagination, Past, Future

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

1900s, A Square Deal (1903)
Context: Among ourselves we differ in many qualities of body, head, and heart; we are unequally developed, mentally as well as physically. But each of us has the right to ask that he shall be protected from wrong-doing as he does his work and carries his burden through life. No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing; and this is a prize open to every man, for there can be no better worth doing than that done to keep in health and comfort and with reasonable advantages those immediately dependent upon the husband, the father, or the son. There is no room in our healthy American life for the mere idler, for the man or the woman whose object it is throughout life to shirk the duties which life ought to bring. Life can mean nothing worth meaning, unless its prime aim is the doing of duty, the achievement of results worth achieving.

Chance, Business, Powerful, Back To Work

“Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward. It is only when you stop and look to the rear that you see the corpse caught under your wheel.”

Abraham Verghese book Cutting for Stone

Source: Cutting for Stone

Understanding

“When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

Time

“And his unkindness may defeat my life, But never taint my love.”

William Shakespeare Othello

Source: Othello

Love

“I don't think you will ever fully understand how you've touched my life and made me who I am. I don't think you could ever know just how truly special you are that even on the darkest nights you are my brightest star”

Erica Jong (1942) Novelist, poet, memoirist, critic

Star, Understanding, Thinking, Night

“Death ends a life, not a relationship”

Morrie Schwartz (1916–1995) American sociologist

Death, Relationship, Goodbye, For Father

“Jesus insisted that the greatest ritual service is the service of human need. It is an odd thing to think that, with the possible exception of that day in the synagogue at Nazareth, we have no evidence that Jesus ever conducted a ‘church’ service in all his life on earth, but we have abundant evidence that he fed the hungry and comforted the sad and cared for the sick. Christian service is not the service of any liturgy or ritual; it is the service of human need. Christian service is not monastic retreat; it is involvement in all the tragedies and problems and demands of the human situation.”

William Barclay (1907–1978) Church of Scotland minister and academic

Source: The Gospel of Matthew: Vol. 2, Chapters 11-28

Sadness, Problem, Thinking

“No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Back To Work

“In secret pleasure — secret tears
This changeful life has slipped away”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

I Am the Only Being (1836)
Source: Wuthering Heights
Context: I am the only being whose doom
No tongue would ask no eye would mourn
I never caused a thought of gloom
A smile of joy since I was born
In secret pleasure — secret tears
This changeful life has slipped away
As friendless after eighteen years
As lone as on my natal day

Pleasure, Secret, Tear, Change

“Very early, I knew that the only object in life was to grow.”

Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) American feminist, poet, author, and activist

Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (1852), Vol. I, p. 132.

Birthday

“Being responsible is taking ownership of your life. It means you have taken the first radical step to becoming a complete human being—fully conscious and fully human. In taking responsibility and beginning the journey toward conscious living, you are putting an end to the age-old patterns of assigning blame outward or heavenward. You have begun the greatest adventure life has to offer: the voyage inward.”

Sadhguru book Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy

Source: Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy

Age

“In life, finding a voice is speaking and living the truth. Each of you is an original. Each of you has a distinctive voice. When you find it, your story will be told. You will be heard.”

John Grisham (1955) American lawyer, politician, and author

Truth

“I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we've got to do it right. We've got to give those animals a decent life and we've got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect.”

Temple Grandin (1947) USA-american doctor of animal science, author, and autism activist

Death, Food, Thinking, Animals

“If you want God to bless you and use you greatly, you must be willing to walk with a limp the rest of your life, because God uses weak people.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

God, People

“The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity; it's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

Love, Death, Beauty, Envy

“The world and the universe is an extremely beautiful place, and the more we understand about it the more beautiful does it appear. It is an immensely exciting experience to be born in the world, born in the universe, and look around you and realise that before you die you have the opportunity of understanding an immense amount about that world and about that universe and about life and about why we're here. We have the opportunity of understanding far, far more than any of our predecessors ever. That is such an exciting possibility, it would be such a shame to blow it and end your life not having understood what there is to understand.”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author

An Interview by Sheena McDonald (1995)

World, Beauty, Understanding, Universe

“Life is a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play it more by watching it than by consulting any book, including the holy book. Small wonder, then, that so many play dirty, that so few win, that so many lose.”

Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996) Russian and American poet and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate

Books, Game, Learning

“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.”

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali polymath

45 <br class="br"> The Gardener http://www.spiritualbee.com/love-poems-by-tagore/ (1915)

Time, Dance, Positive

“The joys of love… last only a moment. The sorrows of love last all the life long.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Source: The Joys of Love

Love, Joy

“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Sad

“The IQ and the life expectancy of the average American recently passed each other in opposite directions.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

“I live my life in growing orbits which move out over this wondrous world, I am circling around God, around ancient towers and i have been circling for a thousand years. And I still dont know if I am an eagle or a storm or a great song.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian poet and writer

Source: Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

God, World

“The alcoholic and the drug addict harm only themselves by their behavior; the person who violates the rules of morality governing mans life in society harms not only himself, but everyone.”

Ludwig von Mises book Liberalism

Source: Liberalism

Alcohol, Behavior, Personality

“I don't play accurately--any one can play accurately--but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest

Science

“… happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and suffer hardships all our life long merely to amuse ourselves…. The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. It is a life which involves effort and is not spent in amusement….”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

Happiness, Effort, Suffering

“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Secret, Food, Success, Fight

“When you make mistakes, whether they are from this life or another, learn from them- then they become opportunities”

P. C. Cast book Tempted

Source: Tempted

Learning

“Out, out brief candle, life is but a walking shadow… a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

William Shakespeare Macbeth

Variant: Life... is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Source: Macbeth

“There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Perfection

“I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“We thought the hard part was over—but we were wrong. Living is the hardest part. Figuring out how to live your life when you’re all busted up inside and out—there is nothing harder.”

Paullina Simons book The Summer Garden

Source: The Summer Garden

Parting

“The only rule is don't be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in.”

Paris Hilton book Confessions of an Heiress

Source: Confessions of an Heiress (2004), p. 53 (included in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1212303/Paris-Hilton-feature-Oxford-Dictionary-Quotes-alongside-Confucius-Oscar-Wilde-yes-really.html)

Cute

“I will simply express my strong belief, that that point of self-education which consists in teaching the mind to resist its desires and inclinations, until they are proved to be right, is the most important of all, not only in things of natural philosophy, but in every department of daily life.”

Michael Faraday (1791–1867) English scientist

Education, Nature, Strong

“The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.”

Oswald Chambers book My Utmost for His Highest

Source: My Utmost for His Highest

God, Faith

“Life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves.”

Bill Hicks (1961–1994) American comedian

Dreams, Imagination

“And thus, the actions of life often not allowing any delay, it is a truth very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine the most true opinions we ought to follow the most probable.”

René Descartes (1596–1650) French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist

Source: Discourse on Method

Truth

“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Love, Motivational, Success, Life

“Honestly," she sighed, "I don't know what kind of life we'll have together, with me always flying off in one direction and you in the other."
I smiled. "It's a good thing the world's round," I said.”

Kenneth Oppel (1967) Canadian children's writer

World, Smile, Flying

“All my life, I have made it complicated, but it is so simple. I love when I love. And when I love, I am myself.”

Hugh Prather (1938–2010) American writer

Source: Notes to Myself: My Struggle to Become a Person

Love

“I remained standing in the middle of the room, swaying on my feet as though I had received a blow. I thought of my life and saw what it had been. No one could swim against such a current of mud. I had been a man so horrible that he could have no friend. But wasn't that, I asked myself, because I had always been incapable of wearing a disguise? If all men went through life with unmasked faces, as I had done for half a century, one might be surprised to find how little difference there was between them. But, in fact, no one lives with his face uncovered, no one. Most men ape greatness or nobility. Though they do not know it, they conform to certain fixed types, literary or other. This the saints know, and they hate and despise themselves because they see themselves with unclouded eyes. I should not have been so universally condemned had I not been so defenseless, so open, and so naked.”

Francois Mauriac (1885–1970) French author

Source: Viper's Tangle

Men, Hate, Universe

“A visiting pastor at our church in Plains once told a story about a priest from New Orleans. Father Flanagan’s parish lay in the central part of the city, close to many taverns. One night he was walking down the street and saw a drunk thrown out of a pub. The man landed in the gutter, and Father Flanagan quickly recognized him as one of his parishioners, a fellow named Mike. Father Flanagan shook the dazed man and said, “Mike!” Mike opened his eyes and Father Flanagan said, “You’re in trouble. If there is anything I can do for you, please tell me what it is.ℍ “Well, Father,” Mike replied, “I hope you’ll pray for me.” “Yes,” the priest answered, “I’ll pray for you right now.” He knelt down in the gutter and prayed, “Father, please have mercy on this drunken man.ℍ At this, a startled Mike woke up fully and said, “Father, please don’t tell God I’m drunk.ℍ Sometimes we don’t feel much of a personal relationship between God and ourselves, as though we have a secret life full of failures and sins that God knows nothing about. We want to involve God only when we plan to give thanks or when we’re in trouble and need help. But the rest of our lives, we’d rather keep to ourselves.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Source: Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President

God, Secret, Hope, Feeling

“Your attitude in life determines, your perception on life.”

Jim Reynolds

“When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.”

Nora Ephron (1941–2012) Film director, author screenwriter

Books, Way, Reading, Parting

“There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate: when he can't afford it, and when he can.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Time

“Life has but one true charm: the charm of the game. But what if we’re indifferent to whether we win or lose?”

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet

Game, Indifference

“The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Nature

“In the time of your life, live—so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.”

William Saroyan The Time of Your Life

The Time of Your Life (1939)
Context: Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart. Despise evil and ungodliness, but not men of ungodliness or evil. These, understand. Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret. In the time of your life, live — so that in the wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.
Context: In the time of your life, live — so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches. Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding-place and let it be free and unashamed. Place in matter and in flesh the least of the values, for these are things that hold death and must pass away. Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption. Encourage virtue in whatever heart it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the shame and terror of the world. Ignore the obvious, for it is unworthy of the clear eye and the kindly heart. Be the inferior of no man, nor of any man be the superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart. Despise evil and ungodliness, but not men of ungodliness or evil. These, understand. Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret. In the time of your life, live — so that in the wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.

World, Smile, Time

“Sometimes, soulmates may meet, stay together until a task or life lesson is completed, and then move on. This is not a tragedy, only a matter of learning.”

Brian L. Weiss

Learning

“There is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions – in a way that serves the world and you.”

Richard Branson (1950) English business magnate, investor and philanthropist

World, Way, Passion, Powerful

“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Story of the Malakand Field Force

The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War (1898), Chapter X.
Early career years (1898–1929)
Variant: There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at with no result.

“Although not a very old man, I have yet lived a great deal in my life, and I have known sorrow too bitter and joy too keen to allow me to become either cast down or elated for more than a very brief period over any success or defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Success, Joy