Quotes about life
page 74

“She had been given a wonderful gift: life. Sometimes it was cruelly taken away too soon, but it's what you did with it that counted, not how long it lasted.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Source: P.S. I Love You

“One life is an absurdly small allowance.”

Freya Stark (1893–1993) British explorer and writer

“The artist cannot look to others to validate his efforts or his calling. If you don't believe me, ask Van Gogh, who produced masterpiece after masterpiece and never found a buyer in his whole life.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Effort

“She might not be as strong as everyone she met, or as fast, or even as smart. But she could bullshit with the best of them. Combine that with a license to carry, and a girl could more than get by in this life.”

Laura Lippman (1959) Detective fiction writer

Source: By a Spider's Thread

Girl, Strong

“Yes, well, life is a folly. If you live long enough, nothing is surprising.”

Tracy Chevalier book Girl with a Pearl Earring

Source: Girl with a Pearl Earring

“The kind of life I want is to be a person who would get a personal note every day.”

Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer

Source: How to Save a Life

Personality

“How much longer will I live? (Urian)
You’re immortal, barring death. (Acheron)
That doesn’t make sense. (Urian)
Most of life doesn’t. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Kiss of the Night

Death, Sense

“Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father.”

Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven

School, Home, Parting, Daughters

“A woman's got one life: She's got to reach out and grab it with both hands, or it'll pass her by and leave nothing but a smelly old fart in her face.”

Robin Schone (1954) American writer

Source: Scandalous Lovers

“I cannot for the life of me understand why small children take so long to grow up. I think they do it deliberately, just to annoy me.”

Roald Dahl book Matilda

Source: Matilda

Children, Understanding, Thinking

“If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

People

“We come from people who brought us up to believe that life is a struggle, and if you should feel really happy, be patient: this will pass.”

Garrison Keillor (1942) American radio host and writer

Happiness, People, Feeling

“When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun.”

Benjamin Hoff book The Tao of Pooh

The Tao of Who?
Source: The Tao of Pooh (1982)

Secret, Way

“And for the first time in my life, I saw something new reflected in the eyes that saw me. Respect. It taught me a very valuable lesson. That dreams have power only over your own mind. But with money you can have power over the minds of others”

Vikas Swarup (1961) Indian novelist and diplomat

Source: Q A: Slumdog Millionaire

Money, Dreams, Time

“I think I wished for you all of my life.”

Cecelia Ahern book If You Could See Me Now

Source: If You Could See Me Now

Thinking, Good Morning

“I’m scared I’m going to spend the rest of my life in a state of yearning, regardless of where I am.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: The Piper's Son

“The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without colour, pain or past.”

Lois Lowry book The Giver

Source: The Giver

Pain, Past

“Above all, life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference”

Robert Frank (1924–2019) American photographer and filmmaker

Robert Frank, "Statement, 1958"; republished in: Vicki Goldberg. Photography in Print: Writings from 1816 to the Present https://books.google.nl/books?id=U3qXOp1iT6QC&pg=PA401, 1981, p. 401 <br class="br">Variant: Life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference and it is important to see what is invisible to others. <br class="br">Context: I have been frequently accused of deliberately twisting subject matter to my point of view. Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out of love. It is important to see what is invisible to others — perhaps the look of hope or the look of sadness. Also, it is always the instantaneous reaction to oneself that produces a photograph.<br>My photographs are not planned or composed in advance, and I do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind, something has been accomplished.

Indifference

“Life's not easy for anyone. Everyone has scars they're afraid to show and we all get slammed headfirst into a proverbial locker from time to time by someone bigger and badder.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infinity

Time

“I was supposed to be having the time of my life.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

Time

“Young lovers see a vision of the world redeemed by love. That is the truest thing they ever see, for without it life is death.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

Source: Jayber Crow

Love, Death, World, Lovers

“Life is filled with difficult decisions, and winners are those who make them.”

Dan Brown book Deception Point

Source: Deception Point

Decision

“I'm certainly not going to put my life on hold for him.”

Candace Bushnell book Summer and the City

Source: Summer and the City

“We must never shed tears
That is the life form’s defeat and if we give into the emotions then it only becomes proof of our inability to control it.”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Tear

“It is a brave and stupid thing, a beautiful thing, to waste one's life for love.”

Andrew Sean Greer book The Confessions of Max Tivoli

Source: The Confessions of Max Tivoli

Love, Stupidity, Beauty

“I have suffered two grave accidents in my life, one in which a streetcar knocked me down… The other accident is Diego.”

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) Mexican painter

Quote in Imagen de Frida Kahlo by Gisèle Freund in Novedades (Mexico City) (10 June 1951)
1946 - 1953

Suffering

“Life is too precious to be left to chance”

Walter Moers The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear

Source: The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear

Chance

“A Gallagher Girl's real grades don’t come in pass or fail—they're measured in life or death.”

Ally Carter Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Source: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Death, Girl

“There was pain, but there was also joy. It was in the tension between the two that life happened. Imperfect as it was, this world was real. Illusion was no substitute. I'd rather live a hard life of fact than a sweet life of lies.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Shadowfever

Pain, World, Joy

“Everything Dies. That is the law of life-the bitter unchangeable law”

David Clement-Davies book Fell

Source: Fell

Law

“That means life itself is a fairy tale. Like the characters, we all live and love and search for a happily-ever-after.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Darkest Night

Love, Search

“Living was okay, but it wasn't the breaths people took that measured a life. It was the moments that took those breaths away that mattered the most. And Dev did that every time he looked at her. Naked or not.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: No Mercy

People, Time

“Romance novels are birthday cake and life is often peanut butter and jelly. I think everyone should have lots of delicious romance novels lying around for those times when the peanut butter of life gets stuck to the roof of your mouth.”

Janet Evanovich (1943) Novelist

Lying, Birthday, Thinking, Time

“Compromise, if not the spice of life, is its solidity. It is what makes nations great and marriages happy”

Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978) writer and poet

Marriage, Happiness

“We only have babies when we're young enough not to know how grim life turns out.”

Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Baby

“Don't just learn from God's Word, but believe it will change your life.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

God, Learning, Change

“The story of her life. God gave you everything just to take it away. Just so you knew exactly what you were missing.”

Janet Fitch (1955) American writer

Source: Paint it Black

God

“I am afraid of falling into hopeless despair, over my wasted life, and I am still not sure how it happened.”

Margaret Atwood book Alias Grace

Source: Alias Grace

Despair

“Because sometimes in life Ken doesn't always choose Barbie.”

Rachel Gibson (1961) American writer

Source: See Jane Score

“At the very beginning of my creative life I loved humanity. I wanted to do something good for mankind. Soon I understood that it isn’t possible to save mankind.”

Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012) Polish writer

Love

“All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.”

Samuel Butler book The Way of All Flesh

Source: The Way of All Flesh (1903), Ch. 19

Business, Animals

“Nobodys life ever goes according to plan.
So why do we keep on planning?
Because that's how we know who we are. By what we intend to be. By what we try to become.
And fail.
I don't say 'fail'. I saw we aim and miss. But we still hit something.”

Orson Scott Card Treasure Box

Source: Treasure Box

“The worst decisions of your life will always be those that are made out of fear.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Born of Silence

Fear, Decision

“Parents, teachers, government - they all teach you how to live the dreary, deadening life of a slave, but nobody teaches you how to live normally.”

Ryū Murakami book In the Miso Soup

Source: In the Miso Soup (1997)

Parent, Teachers

“I shook my head no. For minutes, neither of us spoke a word. It breathed between us, what he had said, the pain of a life suppressed, of happiness never to be.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

Pain, Happiness

“Did you ever dream you had a friend, Alec? Someone to last your whole life and you his. I suppose such a thing can’t really happen outside sleep.”

E.M. Forster book Maurice

Source: Maurice

Dreams, Sleep

“Life is short. Short, and not about anything except what you can touch and what touches you.”

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

“Things can turn out differently, Apollo. That's the nice thing about being human. We only have one life, but we can choose what kind of story it's going to be.”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

“There's no end to the absurd things people will do trying to make life mean something.”

William Wharton book Birdy

Source: Birdy

People

“Life has its rhythm ad we have ours. They’re designed to coexist in harmony, so that when we do what is ours to do and otherwise let life be, we garner acceptance and serenity. (285)”

Victoria Moran (1950) American writer

Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

“I have not led an ordinary life, nor a life that would suit everyone. I took great risks, but because I did, I also earned great reward. I found the way to show my true face freely, without fear. Because of this, I found true love.”

Cameron Dokey (1956) American writer

Source: The Wild Orchid: A Retelling of The Ballad of Mulan

Love, Fear, Way

“The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. It cannot be grasped by reason and memory only, but it is fully understood when it possesses the whole soul and penetrates to the inner recesses of the heart.”

John Calvin (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer

Source: Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life

Soul, Memory, Heart

“The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

Quoted in A Living Architecture : Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin Architects (2000) by John Rattenbury
Context: Human beings can be beautiful. If they are not beautiful it is entirely their own fault. It is what they do to themselves that makes them ugly. The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.

Beauty, Beauty

“How long have you been drawing me?”
He sighted. A moment later his hand came to rest in her hair. His fingers twined in the strands. “My whole life.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

Drawing

“Too many adults wish to 'protect' teenagers when they should be stimulating them to read of life as it is lived.”

Margaret A. Edwards (1902–1988) American librarian

Reading

“there is one word that can be the guide for your life- it is the word reciprocity.”

Pearl S. Buck book Peony

Source: Peony

“If I were to name the three most precious resources of life, I should say books, friends, and nature….”

John Burroughs (1837–1921) American naturalist and essayist

Books, Nature

“Our waking life's desire to shape the world to our convenience invites all manner of paradox and difficulty.”

Cormac McCarthy book Cities of the Plain

Source: Cities of the Plain (1998)

World

“Life doesn't make any sense, and we all pretend it does. Comedy's job is to point out that it doesn't make sense, and that it doesn't make much difference anyway.”

Eric Idle (1943) British comedian, actor, singer and writer

Sense

“It's just so out of control. Life, I mean. The way it flies off in all these different directions without your permission.”

Sara Zarr (1970) American children's writer

Source: How to Save a Life

Way

“He kissed me hard and I kissed him back harder, like it was the end of an era that had lasted all of my life.”

Cheryl Strayed book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Source: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Kiss

“(Talon pulled another beignet from the sack and held it up for her to eat.)
That stuff is hazardous to your health. (Sunshine)
Baby, life is hazardous to your health. (Talon)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon Night Embrace

Source: Night Embrace

Health, Baby

“I don't know. But Iknow that I'm at the stage of my life where I want, not.

I know that the first person I kissed won't be nearly as important as the last person I kiss.

And I also know better than to dream about things that can't happen.”

Jodi Picoult book Sing You Home

Source: Sing You Home

Dreams, Kiss, Personality

“Trust in tomorrow… Every day of your life, there's been a tomorrow. I promise you, there'll be a tomorrow.

—Alex Morales to Miranda Evans”

Susan Beth Pfeffer (1948) American writer

Source: This World We Live In

“Now all the mute objects of my life seem to tell my story, to stretch back in time, if I look closely enough.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book Middlesex

Source: Middlesex

Time

“Busy your mind with the concepts of harmony, health, peace, and good will, and wonders will happen in your life.”

Joseph Murphy (1898–1981) American writer

Source: The Power of Your Subconscious Mind -

Health, Peace, Business

“This life's dim windows of the soul
Distorts the heavens from pole to pole
And leads you to believe a lie
When you see with, not through, the eye.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

1810s, The Everlasting Gospel (c. 1818)

Lie, Soul

“There are more than two chances– many more. I know now, after fifty years, that the finding/losing, forgetting/remembering, leaving/returning, never stops. The whole of life is about another chance, and while we are alive, till the very end, there is always another chance.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? (2011), p.38
Source: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Chance, Forgetting

“What I do know is that if we are born again, I will meet you in another life, and if there is a river, you will wait on the shores for me to come to you, so that we can cross together.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Waiting

“If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”

George Eliot book Middlemarch

Source: Middlemarch

Feeling, Silence, Grass, Heart

“The thing about real life is, when you do something stupid, it normally costs you.”

Darren Shan book Cirque du Freak

Source: A Living Nightmare

Stupidity

“Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life”

Bertolt Brecht The Mother

Pelagea Vlasova in Scene 10
The Mother (1930)
Variant: Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.
Source: Jewish Wife and Other Short Plays: Includes: In Search of Justice; Informer; Elephant Calf; Measures Taken; Exception and the Rule; Salzburg Dance of Death

Death, Fear