Quotes about life page 68
Kristin Hannah (1960) American writer
Source: On Mystic Lake
“Life has no plot. It is by far more interesting than anything you can say about it…”
Erica Jong book Fear of Flying
Source: Fear of Flying
“Life is full of risks. Death is much simpler.”
Cassandra Clare (1973) American author
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Princess
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer
Source: Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
Robyn Davidson (1950) Australian writer
Source: Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Said to Samuel J Woolf, Berlin, Summer 1929. Cited with additional notes in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice and Freeman Dyson, Princeton UP (2010) p 230
1920s
Variant: If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.
Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) American missionary
Source: Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control
“That's life. Things don't always work out.”
Jenny Han book P.S. I Still Love You
Source: P.S. I Still Love You
“It frightens me the awful truth of how sweet life can be.”
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Song lyrics, Biograph (1985), Up to Me (recorded 1974)
“Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone.”
Tom Schulman (1950) American film director, screenwriter
Source: Dead Poets Society
“When I was seventeen, my life changed forever…”
Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember
Source: A Walk to Remember
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”
Roger A. Caras (1928–2001) American photographer
“life's endless war against the self you cannot live without.”
David Foster Wallace book Infinite Jest
Source: Infinite Jest
“No one does anything right in life, until they realize that they are making a mistake”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“A life is never useless. Each soul that came down to Earth is here for a reason.”
Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra
Source: Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), Uselessness
B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar
Source: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, p.xiv
Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer
Source: The Hero With a Thousand Faces
“When you are measuring life, you are not living it.”
Mitch Albom (1958) American author
Tuesdays with Morrie (1997)
Variant: When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.
Source: The Time Keeper
Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), p. 212. ISBN 978-0-375-50789-2
“Life is classified. There is always so much that goes unsaid.”
Ally Carter Out of Sight, Out of Time
Source: Out of Sight, Out of Time
“The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.”
Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) American politician and brother of John F. Kennedy
“… I started to die 36 hours before I was born, so dying was a way of life for me.”
Hubert Selby Jr. (1928–2004) American writer
Source: For One More Day
“Life is a tapestry woven by the decisions we make.”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist
Source: Kiss of the Night
Henry James (1843–1916) American novelist, short story author, and literary critic
William James, "Is Life Worth Living?," The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897).
Misattributed
“I don't think that there are any limits to how excellent we could make life seem.”
Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated
Source: Everything Is Illuminated
Tyler Perry (1966) American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, author, and songwriter
“Loneliness is caused by an alienation from life. It is a loneliness from your real self.”
Maxwell Maltz (1889–1975) Plastic surgeon, self-help author
“When life gives you lemons…. they could really be oranges.”
Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress
“Lately, I feel like my life is a book written in a language I don't know how to read.”
Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer
Source: The Hero of Ages
Sarah Dunant book The Birth of Venus
Source: The Birth of Venus
“Dullness is the spice of life. Which is why we must always use other spices.”
David Levithan (1972) American author and editor
Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
“The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.”
David Russell (1953) Scottish classical guitarist
“I want some time without you organic life forms.”
Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero
Source: The Lost Hero
Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer
Source: Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul
“Life is a pure flame and we live by an invisible sun within us.”
Thomas Browne (1605–1682) English polymath
Richard Carlson (1961–2006) Author, psychotherapist and motivational speaker
Judith McNaught (1944) American writer
Source: Something Wonderful
“There are some things in life that are worth fighting for to the end.”
Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
“He wished he had inhabited more of his life, used it better, filled it fuller.”
Anne Tyler The Amateur Marriage
Source: The Amateur Marriage
