Quotes about life
page 61

“I see my life as an unfolding set of opportunities to awaken.”

Ram Dass (1931–2019) American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now

“Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practicable entrances.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

“In moments of great stress, every life form that exists gives out a tiny subliminal signal.”

Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy pentalogy

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

“Maybe you don't like your job, maybe you didn't get enough sleep--
But nobody likes their job, nobody got enough sleep.
Maybe you just had the worst day of your life;
Well, you know, there's no escape.
That's no excuse. Just suck up and be nice.”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

Pixie
Song lyrics
Source: Ani Difranco - Little Plastic Castle

Sleep

“Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”

Michael Landon Jr. (1964) American television director

“Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Truth, Justice

“All my life I've learned to suffer in silence.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: The Witch of Portobello (2007), p. 41.
Source: The Witch Of Portobello

Silence, Suffering, Learning

“There is certainly a satisfaction and dignity to be gained in coming to terms with the mistakes one has made in the course of one’s life”

Kazuo Ishiguro book An Artist of the Floating World

Source: An Artist of the Floating World

“I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,
The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,
Those of my own life, who by turns had flung
A shadow across me.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning book Sonnets from the Portuguese

Source: Sonnets from the Portuguese

Sadness, Tear

“Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life, I find.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

“What I know is you can't go back. You can't press delete and re-key your life.”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you.”

Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian

God

“There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.”

Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure

Hagakure (c. 1716)
Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
Context: There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.
Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it were somewhere else.

Understanding, Success

“How amazing it is that friendships can become so full that you can't imagine what your life was like before them.”

David Levithan book Love Is the Higher Law

Source: Love Is the Higher Law

Friendship, Imagination

“You know what my philosophy of life is? That it’s important to have some laughs, but you got to suffer a little too, because otherwise you miss the whole point to life.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Suffering

“For the first time in my life the weather was not something that touched me, that caressed me, froze or sweated me, but became me.”

Jack Kerouac book On the Road

Source: On the Road

Time, Weather

“May you live in such a way that your death is just the beginning of your life.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

Source: Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make A Difference

Death, Way

“That which we expect of life is indeed all that it ever can be.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Source: The Locket

“The more I did it―the more it owned me. It made things matter. It put a spine into my spineless life and that spine spread, into backbone, ribs, collarbone, neck held high.
It was something. Don't say it wasn't.”

Megan Abbott book Dare Me

Source: Dare Me

“I’m just trying to wake up - I’m so afraid of sleeping all my life and then dying - I want to wake up first. I wouldn’t care if it was just for an hour, as long as I was properly alive and awake…”

Philip Pullman book The Amber Spyglass

Source: The Amber Spyglass

Sleep

“Always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, Sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Smile, Beauty, Heartbreaking, Inspirational

“Change isn't easy. Changing the way you live means changing the way you think, means changing what you believe about life. That's hard.”

Dean Koontz book One Door Away from Heaven

Geneva Davis; chapter 1, p. 8
Source: One Door Away from Heaven (2001)
Context: Change isn't easy, Micky. Changing the way you live means changing the way you think. Changing the way you think means changing what you believe about life. That's hard, sweetie. When we make our own misery, we sometimes cling to it even when we want so bad to change, because the misery is something we know. The misery is comfortable.

Way, Thinking, Change

“Life is not easy. We all have problems-even tragedies-to deal with, and luck has nothing to do with it. Bad luck is only the superstitious excuse for those who don't have the wit to deal with the problems of life.”

Joan Lowery Nixon (1927–2003) American children's writer and journalist

Source: In The Face of Danger

Bad luck, Problem

“Life's had to break you down so you could be rebuilt”

Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer

Source: The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life

“Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone's life forever.”

Margaret Cho (1968) American stand-up comedian

Way, Change

“Too much consistency is as bad for the mind as it is for the body. Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.”

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English writer

"Wordsworth in the Tropics" in Do What You Will (1929)
Source: Do What You Will: Twelve Essays
Context: Too much consistency is as bad for the mind as it is for the body. Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead. Consistent intellectualism and spirituality may be socially valuable, up to a point; but they make, gradually, for individual death.

People, Nature, Dead

“I used to ask for an easy life, now I ask to be strong.”

William Kent Krueger (1950) author, novelist

Source: Iron Lake

Strong

“Finding one important thing in your life doesn’t mean you have to
give up all the other important things.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

“This is how the entire course of a life can be changed - by doing nothing.”

Ian McEwan book On Chesil Beach

Page 166.
Source: On Chesil Beach (2007)

Change

“Very occasionally, if you really pay attention, life doesn’t suck.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Liner notes to the cast album Once More, with Feeling (2002)

“Life: I'll never understand it.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Variant: Life: I’ll never understand it.

Understanding

“Time is not the great teacher. Experience is. A man may live a whole life, but if he never leaves his home to experience that life, he dies knowing nothing. A mere child who has suffered and lived can be the wiser of the two.”

Lynsay Sands Canadian writer

Source: Love Bites

Home, Suffering, Teachers, Time

“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life”

Donna Tartt book The Goldfinch

Source: The Goldfinch

Thinking

“The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978) Vice-President of the USA under Lyndon B. Johnson

Remarks at the dedication of the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, November 1, 1977, Congressional Record, November 4, 1977, vol 123, p. 37287.

Children, Age

“Feel the flowing life energy. Can you see the universe unfolding in your mind?”

Dan Gutman (1954) American children's writer

Mrs. Jafee Is Daffy!

Feeling, Universe

“Remove everything pointless from an imperfect life and it’d lose even its imperfection.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

“The real hell of life is everyone has his reasons.”

Jean Renoir (1894–1979) French film director and screenwriter

Variant: The truly terrible thing is that everybody has their reasons.

Hell

“Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each othereverywhere.”

Tim McGraw (1967) American country singer

Variant: We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everyhwere.

“Life is not measured by the breathes you take, but by the moments that take your breathe away.”

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

“But in real life, happily-ever-after is just the beginning. It's where life starts.”

Kay Hooper (1957) American writer

Source: If There Be Dragons

“The insatiable thirst for everything which lies beyond, & which life reveals is the most living proof of our immortality.”

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet

“Miracles do occur, and it's never too late to turn your life around and reach for something better.”

Alyson Nöel (1965) writer

Source: Everlasting

“Dieting fooled you into thinking you could control your life.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book The Marriage Plot

Source: The Marriage Plot

Fools, Thinking

“Trusting God completely means having faith that He knows what is best for your life. You expect Him to keep His promises, help you with problems, and do the impossible when necessary.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

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

God, Faith, Problem, Help

“Do not work primarily for money; do your duty to patients first and let the money follow; our life is short, we don't live twice; the whirlwind will pick up the leaves and spin them, but then it will drop them and they will form a pile.”

John Hersey book Hiroshima

Source: Hiroshima

Money

“I can offer you my life, but it is a short life; I can offer you my heart, though I have no idea how many more beats it shall sustain”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Idea, Heart

“My point is, that if I'm honest, my life is all about me.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Source: Invisible Monsters

“He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.”

Philip Roth book American Pastoral

Source: American Pastoral

Sense, Learning

“The past is a life sentence, a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow.”

Claudia Rankine book Citizen: An American Lyric

Source: Citizen: An American Lyric

Past

“In life we often look to others for simple, but difficult answers, despite the fact that we have those answers ourselves.”

James Frey book The Final Testament of the Holy Bible

Source: The Final Testament of the Holy Bible

“We won't die secret deaths anymore. The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come. Bye now. You are fabulous creatures, each and every one. And I bless you: More Life. The Great Work Begins.”

Tony Kushner Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

Source: Angels in America

Death, Secret, World, Time

“Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

Time, Sun

“An awful realization that I have been fooling myself all my life thinking there was a next thing to do to keep the show going and actually I'm just a sick clown and so is everybody else…”

Jack Kerouac book Big Sur

Source: Big Sur

Fools, Thinking

“Nothing in life is ever as simple as we imagine.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

Imagination

“If we were to one day encounter a form of life more powerful and intelligent than our own, and it regarded us as we regard fish, what would be our argument against being eaten?”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Eating Animals

Source: Eating Animals

Intelligence, Fish

“I can tell you that the end of life is the some of the love that was lived in it.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love

“I prefer the school of life.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

School

“If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

“I mean, I knew I wasn't a nice person, but what did I do in my past life to deserve this? I must have hit a bus full of nuns while driving a stolen car on my way to selling drugs to schoolchildren!”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

Cars, Way, Past, Personality

“It’s a really crappy feeling to realise that your entire outlook on life can be controlled by some little pill.”

Michael Thomas Ford (1968) American writer

Source: Suicide Notes

Feeling

“Always fall in with what you're asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever's going. Not against: with.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

As quoted in Vogue (14 March 1963)
1960s
Variant: Always fall in with what you're asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever's going. Not against: with.

Way

“… It all seemed to him to have disappeared as if behind a curtain at a theater. There are such curtains that drop in life. God is moving on to the next act.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

God

“I'd rather lose her from my life, but know she was alive and well than lose her altogether to death.”

Lynsay Sands Canadian writer

Source: Vampires are Forever

Death

“There comes a time in each life like a point of fulcrum. At that time you must accept yourself. It is not any more what you will become. It is what you are and always will be. You are too young to know this. You are still becoming. Not being.”

John Fowles book The Magus

Source: The Magus

Time

“Life it too short to deal with crazy people.”

Karen E. Quinones Miller (1958) American writer

People

“Life is about coming to terms with the mistakes made. Learning to live with them even when they cut soul deep.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of Silence

Soul, Learning

“Curran struck at my wrist. His fingers were cat-quick, but I had spent my life honing my reflexes, and he missed.
“Well, look at that.” I studied my free wrist. “Denied. Good-bye”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Strikes

Cats, Study

“maturity meant thinking about risk long before you pondered the reward, and that success and happiness in life were as much about avoiding mistakes as making your mark into the world.”

Nicholas Sparks book True Believer

Lexie Darnell, Chapter 13, p. 205
Source: 2000s, True Believer (2005)
Context: In her new, more mature incarnation, she embraced the idea that maturity meant thinking about risk long before you pondered the reward, and that success and happiness in life were as much about avoiding mistakes as making your mark in the world.

Happiness, World, Thinking, Success

“You know how both life and porno movies end. The only difference is life starts with the orgasm.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist

“If you were wise enough to know that this life would consist mostly of letting go of things you wanted, then why not get good at the letting go, rather than the trying to have?”

Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer

Source: The First Bad Man

“One doesn't come to Italy for niceness," was the retort; "one comes for life. Buon giorno! Buon giorno!”

E.M. Forster book A Room with a View

Source: A Room with a View

“I only want to write. And there's no college for that except life.”

Dodie Smith book I Capture the Castle

Source: I Capture the Castle

“Nobody's going to win all the time. On the highway of life you can't always be in the fast lane.”

Haruki Murakami book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Time

“Break my heart? Is that what you just said? I have news for you; you didn't break my heart. My heart's fine. My heart's in the best shape of its life. You know what you did to me? You took an AK-47 and blew my soul open.”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: How to Kill a Rock Star

Soul, Heart

“Life doesn't often turn out the way we think it will, does it?”

Nicholas Sparks book Message in a Bottle

Source: Message in a Bottle

Way, Thinking

“It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.”

Rachel Carson book The Sea Around Us

Source: The Sea Around Us

Way, Change, Sea

“You said there was nothing in the world you wanted" The Queen's eyes glittered. "When you imagine your life without him, do you still feel the same?”

Cassandra Clare book City of Fallen Angels

Source: City of Fallen Angels

World, Feeling, Imagination

“I'll run one day. Run for my life. To be free and think for myself… I'll run to be emancipated.”

Melina Marchetta book Looking for Alibrandi

Source: Looking for Alibrandi

Thinking

“If there was one truth Evie had learned in her short life, it was that forgiveness was easier to seek than permission. She didn’t plan to ask for either one.”

Libba Bray book The Diviners

Source: The Diviners

Truth, Forgiveness, Learning

“Life is nothing without a little chaos to make it interesting.”

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes book Demon in My View

Source: Demon in My View

“The adolescents of my generation, greedy for life, forgot in body and soul about their hopes for the future until reality taught them that tomorrow was not what they had dreamed, and they discovered nostalgia.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Source: Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Dreams, Hope, Soul, Reality

“And if he had judged her harshly? If her life were a simple rosary of hours, her life simple and strange as a bird's life, gay in the morning, restless all day, tired at sundown? Her heart simple and willful as a bird's heart?”

James Joyce book A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Source: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Bird, Heart

“Barrons, Jericho: I haven't the faintest fecking clue. He keeps saving my life. I suppose that's something.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Bloodfever

“"Life has to end." Marguerite said. "Love doesn't"”

Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003)

Love

“In fairy tales, the princesses kiss the frogs, and the frogs become princes. In real life, the pricesses kiss princes, and the princes turn into frogs.”

Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994)
Variant: There's nothing deeper than love. In fairy tales, the princesses kiss the frogs, and the frogs become princes. In real life, the princesses kiss princes, and the princes turn into frogs.
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Kiss, Princess