Quotes about life
page 73

“With you, my life felt indeed like a fantastic adventure - despite our ordinary circumstances, your love imbued everything we did with secret riches.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Longest Ride

Source: The Longest Ride

Love, Secret

“At its best, schooling can be about how to make a life, which is quite different from how to make a living.”

Neil Postman (1931–2003) American writer and academic

Source: The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School

School

“In this life, no matter what anyone promises you, what allegiances of love or fealty they swear or what gods they pray to, you will never have more than what you have at this moment.”

Richard Kadrey (1957) San Francisco-based novelist, freelance writer, and photographer

Love, God

“I wasn’t lonely. I experienced no self-pity. I was just caught up in a life in which I could ﬁnd no meaning.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

“Finally, she mused that human existence is as brief as the life of autumn grass, so what was there to fear from taking chances with your life?”

Mo Yan book Red Sorghum

Source: Red Sorghum: A Novel of China (1986/1987)

Fear, Autumn, Grass, Chance

“Poetry is my life, my postmark, my hands, my kitchen, my face.”

Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States

“It’s life. You don’t figure it out. You just climb up on the beast and ride.”

Rebecca Wells book Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Source: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Motivational, Back To Work

“We're all born lost, aren't we? We're all born separated from God - over and over life makes sure to inform us of this - and yet we're all real: we have names, we have lives. We mean something. We must.”

Douglas Coupland Hey Nostradamus!

Source: Hey Nostradamus!

God

“In that moment she learnt one of the greatest secrets of life: It is often easier to fight for others than it is for yourself.”

David Clement-Davies book Fell

Source: Fell

Secret, Fight

“Not everything in life can be interpreted metaphorically; that's because things fall out on the way.”

Edward Gorey (1925–2000) American writer, artist, and illustrator

Way

“Added to their loveliness was a new mysterious suffering, perfectly silent, visible in the blue puffiness beneath their eyes or the way they would sometimes stop in mid-stride, look down, and shake their heads as though disagreeing with life.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book The Virgin Suicides

Source: The Virgin Suicides

Way, Suffering

“Without love, most of life remains concealed. Nothing is as fascinating as love, unfortunately.”

Hanif Kureishi (1954) English playwright, screenwriter, novelist

Source: Intimacy: das Buch zum Film von Patrice Chéreau

Love

“… how false the most profound book turns out to be when applied to life.”

William Faulkner book Light in August

Source: Light in August

Books, Falseness

“There is no such thing as a hopeless situation. Every single circumstances of your life can change!”

Rhonda Byrne book The Secret

Source: The Secret

Change

“Life is not orderly. No matter how we try to make it so, right in the middle of it we die, lose a leg, fall in love, or drop a jar of applesauce.”

Natalie Goldberg (1948) American writer

Love

“Life is fleeting. Don't waste a single moment of your precious life. Wake up now! And now! And now!”

Ruth Ozeki book A Tale for the Time Being

Source: A Tale for the Time Being

“Change isn't always comfortable, but it is a fact of life.”

Joanne Harris book The Gospel of Loki

Source: The Gospel of Loki

Change

“Nothing in life is fair. Fair is a dirty word and I'll thank you not to use that language around me.”

Jeff Lindsay book Dexter in the Dark

Source: Dexter in the Dark

“You only have control over three things in your life-the thoughts you think, the images you visualise, & the actions you take.”

Jack Canfield (1944) American writer

Thinking

“I'm going to a dance."
With Becky?"
No, with Alexander."
Who's Alexander?"
The love of my life!”

Ellen Schreiber book Vampire Kisses

Source: Vampire Kisses

Love, Dance

“Was life nothing more than a storm that constantly washed away what had been there only a moment before, and left behind something barren and unrecognizable?”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

“MARIE I’m saying that the right man for you might be out there right now and if you don’t grab him, someone else will, and you’ll have to spend the rest of your life knowing that someone else is married to your husband.”

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

Source: When Harry Met Sally

“And your own life while it's happening to you never has any atmosphere until it's a memory.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

Memory

“This pain, this dying, this is just normal. This is how life is. In fact, I realize, there never was an earthquake. Life is just this way, broken, and I am crazy for dreaming of something else.”

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

Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You

Pain, Dreams, Way

“Death is forever. Death is nothing. But to save a life, that’s everything.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Breaks

Death

“Life is doubt,
And faith without doubt is nothing but death.”

Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher

Death, Faith

“When life descends into the pit
I must become my own candle
Willingly burning my self
To light up the darkness around me.”

Alice Walker (1944) American author and activist

Light

“open your eyes^_^
and look within….
are you satisfied with the life,
…….. U are liVing?????????”

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

Source: Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words

“Life is very interesting… in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.”

Drew Barrymore (1975) American actress, director and producer

Variant: In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.

Pain, Motivational, For women, Deep

“it's best to accept life as it really is and not as I imagined it to be”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Veronika Decides to Die

Imagination

“Believe me, It would be better if we didn't meet again. Go back to school. Go back to your life. And next time they ask you, say no. Killing is for grown-ups and you're still a child.”

Anthony Horowitz book Stormbreaker

Source: Stormbreaker

School, Time

“I don't know if it's better to be close with your daughter or make sure that she has a better life than you do.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Daughters

“It didn't matter if I got bitten by a dog or I ripped my pants on the fence post or I poked myself in the eye with a tree branch that I was crawling over, it was all about the shortcut. My whole life I took the shortcut, and I ended up lost.”

Anthony Kiedis book Scar Tissue

Source: Scar Tissue

Dogs, Tree

“Your education or your life, Claire. I'd rather you be alive and a little bit dumber.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: The Dead Girls' Dance

Education

“I could but esteem this moment of my departure as among the most happy of my life.”

Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809) American explorer

Happiness, Departure

“Only by living at the edge of death can you understand the indescribable joy of life.”

James Clavell book Shōgun

Source: Shōgun (1975), Ch. 56

Death, Understanding, Joy

“We must have courage to bet on our ideas, to take the calculated risk, and to act. Everyday living requires courage if life is to be effective and bring happiness.”

Maxwell Maltz (1889–1975) Plastic surgeon, self-help author

Happiness, Idea, Courage

“He recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his destiny.”

Howard Thurman book Jesus and the Disinherited

Source: Jesus and the Disinherited

“There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion
that if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble
Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret,
Spilled on the ground like water, can never be gathered together.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American poet

Secret, Water, Chance, Heart

“For you was I born, for you do I have life, for you will I die, for you am I now dying.”

Gabriel García Márquez book Of Love and Other Demons

Source: Of Love and Other Demons

“The French have a new president, the British will soon have a new P. M., and we envy them as we endure the endless wait for this small dim man to go back to Texas and resume his life.”

Garrison Keillor (1942) American radio host and writer

Waiting, Envy

“But other people also 'invite' us to behave like victims, when they complain about the unfairness of life, for example, and ask us to agree, to offer advice, to participate.

Be careful. When you join in that game you always end up losing.”

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

Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

People, Game

“I don't think anyone ever gets over anything in life; they merely get used to it.”

Douglas Coupland (1961) Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and graphic designer

Thinking

“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Variant: It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
Source: The Alchemist

Dreams, Motivational, Deep, Success

“I suppose that's one of the ironies of life doing the wrong thing at the right moment.”

Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker

“At some time in your life, you probably had someone believe in you when you didn't believe in yourself.”

Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Time

“From childhood I had never believed in permanence, and yet I had longed for it. Always I was afraid of losing happiness. This month, next year… death was the only absolute value in my world. Lose life and one would lose nothing again forever.”

Graham Greene book The Quiet American

Source: The Quiet American

Death, Happiness, World, Childhood

“My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Source: Dickinson: Poems

Hell, Parting

“To lose love is a terrible thing. But to turn away from it is unbearable. Will you spend the rest of your life replaying it in your head? Wondering if you walked away too soon or too easily? Or if you'll ever love anyone that deeply again?”

Kristin Hannah (1960) American writer

Source: Winter Garden

Love

“Application of your faith will change your life”

Glenn Beck (1964) U.S. talk radio and television host

Faith, Change

“The sweetness and generosity and politeness and gentleness and humanity of the French had shown me how lovely life can be if one takes time to be friendly.”

Julia Child My Life in France

Source: My Life in France

Love, Time

“You know that things aren't going well for you when you can't even tell people the simplest fact about your life, just because they'll presume you're asking them to feel sorry for you.”

Nick Hornby (1957) English novelist

People, Feeling

“Life is like therapy - real expensive and no guarantees.”

Garth Brooks (1962) American country music artist

“Yeah.” Rhage sighed. “All I want is one good female. But I guess I’ll settle for quantity until I find her. Life just sucks, doesn’t it?”

Jessica Bird book Dark Lover

Source: Dark Lover

“The purpose of dancing isn't to end up at a particular spot on the floor. The purpose of dancing and of life is to enjoy every moment and every step, regardless of where you are when the music ends.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Music, Dance

“A little too abstract, a little too wise,
It is time for us to kiss the earth again,
It is time to let the leaves rain from the skies,
Let the rich life run to the roots again.”

Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) American poet

Source: The Selected Poetry

Kiss, Time

“And without Dex in my life, I like to think I could have somehow found contentment. But the truth is, I feel freer with Dex than I ever did when I was single. I feel more myself with him than without. Maybe true love does that”

Emily Giffin Something Borrowed

Source: Something Borrowed

Love, Truth, Feeling, Thinking

“To be a princess is to play at life. To be a queen is to be a serious player… The purpose of life as a woman is to ascend to the throne and rule with heart.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Heart, Princess

“I love the life you've always made so sweet for me and I'd regret it if I had to die.'
'Do you mean to say that if I left you---'
'I'd die, yes.'
'Then you love me?”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Love

“Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of great distress.”

Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Two: Soul and Body, p 49

Law, Beauty, Time

“If there is no friendship with them [the poor] and no sharing of the life of the poor, then there is no authentic commitment to liberation, because love exists only among equals.”

Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928) Peruvian theologian

Source: A Theology of Liberation

Love, Friendship

“Rise to the occassion which is life!”

Virginia Euwer Wolff (1937) American children's writer

“An easy life doesn't teach us anything. In the end it's the learning that matters: what we've learned and how we've grown”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: One

Learning

“Life isn't hard to manage when you've nothing to lose.”

Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms (1929), Ch. 21

“If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.”

Ann Brashares book Sisterhood Everlasting

Gwendolen, Act III
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Source: Sisterhood Everlasting

Waiting, Romantic, For Her

“My mother's life was way too heavy for me.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

Way

“It was the kiss by which all the others of his life would be judged and found wanting.”

Stephen King book Hearts in Atlantis

Source: Hearts in Atlantis

Kiss

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) English clergyman, historian and novelist

Happiness

“Average is very acceptable in our society but I don't think the angels are applauding. If you are determined to be excellent, to not back out of it, you will reap a harvest in your life.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Angels, Thinking

“Everytime i have turned the page he re-enters my life as awkward as postscript”

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni book Sister of My Heart

Source: Sister of My Heart

“You say you need help. Help for what? You have everything needed for the extravagant journey that is your life.”

Carlos Castaneda book Journey to Ixtlan

Variant: You have everything needed for the extravagant journey that is your life.
Source: Journey to Ixtlan

Help

“It would be so great if it were possible to go through life without making a single mistake but there is no such path. Falling, tripping, losing the way, making mistakes, little by little, walking one step at a time, this is the only way.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Way, Time

“Life is for the living. Don't let the fear of striking out let you from keep you from playing the game.”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Fear, Game

“Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7 of your life.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

Way

“I asked her about life, and it was as if she rummaged around in a dusty chest to get me the answers.”

Bernhard Schlink book The Reader

Source: The Reader

“With my life comes my heart, yours now to crush or cherish as you will. It is my hope you will have a care in keeping both.”

Johanna Lindsey (1952–2019) American writer

Source: Keeper of the Heart

Hope, Heart

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Dreams, Wise, Happy, Family

“Dempseys are never in trouble. We just have stretches of life that are more interesting than others.”

Jennifer Crusie (1949) American writer

Source: Faking It

“Always guarding one's real, precious self in a cocoon of tranquility within a thousand masks.
Life itself had become a secret affair.”

Mary Balogh (1944) Welsh-Canadian novelist

Source: A Secret Affair

Secret

“I may be the type who manages to grab all the pointless things in life but lets the really important things slip away.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Source: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories

“Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere.”

Isabelle Eberhardt (1877–1904) Swiss explorer and author

Source: The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt

Sun

“Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

Happiness

“I was starting to see that what looks like garbage from one angle might be art from another. Maybe it did take a crisis to get to know yourself; maybe you needed to get whacked hard by life before you understood what you wanted out of it.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Variant: What looks like garbage from one angle might be art from another. Maybe ittake a crisis to get to know yourself; maybe you needed to get whacked hard by life before you understood what you wanted out of it.
Source: Handle with Care

Art

“Life must be rich and full of loving--it's no good otherwise, no good at all, for anyone.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

Source: Selected Letters, 1940-1956

Love

“He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others.”

Leo Tolstoy book Family Happiness

Part 1, chapter 2 http://books.google.com/books?id=eWU4AAAAYAAJ&q=%22there+is+only+one+enduring+happiness+in+life+to+live+for+others%22&pg=PA22#v=onepage <br class="br">Family Happiness (1859) <br class="br">Variant: There is only one enduring happiness in life&mdash; to live for others.

Happiness

“Sometimes you just have to reach out and grab what you want, even when they tell you not to. This is something that I've struggled with my whole life long.”

Rebecca Wells book Little Altars Everywhere

Source: Little Altars Everywhere