Quotes about life
page 77

“Plato did claim that the unexamined life was not worth living. Oedipus Rex was not so sure.”

Tom Robbins (1932) American writer

“My entire life has felt like chance. Random moments of loss and connection. This is the first one that feels, instead, like fate.”

Christina Baker Kline (1964) American writer

Source: Orphan Train

Fate, Feeling, Loss, Chance

“At the time, my life just seemed too complete, and maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Variant: ... and maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves.
Source: Fight Club

Time

“If I look upon my whole life, I cannot think of another time when I felt more comfortable: when I had no worries, fears, or desires, when my life seemed as soft and lovely as lying inside a cocoon of rose silk.”

Amy Tan The Joy Luck Club

Source: The Joy Luck Club

Love, Fear, Lying, Thinking

“Have to sow excellent seeds to have an excellent life. Must start with sowing excellent thoughts.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

“I give myself a good cry if I need it, but then I concentrate on all good things still in my life.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Cry

“It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn't matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.”

Paulo Coelho book The Zahir

Source: The Zahir

Past

“Very little is needed to make a happy life.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

ἐν ὀλιγίστοις κεῖται τὸ εὐδαιμόνως βιῶσαι
VII, 67
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII

Happiness, Motivational, Wise, Deep

“He stood at the window of the empty cafe and watched the activities in the square and he said that it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they'd have no heart to start at all.”

Cormac McCarthy book All the Pretty Horses

Source: All the Pretty Horses (1992)
Context: He thought he'd be an object of some curiosity but the people he saw only nodded gravely to him and passed on. He carried the bucket back into the store and went down the street to where there was a small cafe and he entered and sat at one of the three small wooden tables. The floor of the cafe was packed mud newly swept and he was the only customer. He stood the rifle against the wall and ordered huevos revueltos and a cup of chocolate and he sat and waited for it to come and then he ate very slowly. The food was rich to his taste and the chocolate was made with canela and he drank it and ordered another and folded a tortilla and ate and watched the horses standing in the square across the street and watched the girls. They'd hung the gazebo with crepe and it looked like a festooned brush-pile. The proprietor showed him great courtesy and brought him fresh tortillas hot from the comal and told him that there was to be a wedding and that it would be a pity if it rained. He inquired where he might be from and showed surprise he'd come so far. He stood at the window of the empty cafe and watched the activities in the square and he said that it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they'd have no heart to start at all.

God, Truth, Heart

“You can't spend the rest of your life tiptoeing around to try and avert disaster. It won't work. You'll just end up missing the life you have.”

Kim Edwards book The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Source: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

“They laughed. Things were funny. They weren't afraid to care. There was no sense to life, to the structure of things.”

Charles Bukowski book Ham on Rye

Source: Ham on Rye

Sense

“… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.”

John Irving book The Cider House Rules

Source: The Cider House Rules

Heart

“Don't let life's events determine your attitude, let your attitude determine your life..”

Jeff Davis

“We are not strong enough to stand up against endless grief, And yet pain is the constant drone of life. So if we are to have any happiness at all, it is only in the passing instant.”

Charles Frazier (1950) American writer

Pain, Happiness, Strong

“Our vanity makes us exaggerate the importance of human life; the individual is nothing; Nature cares only for the species.”

Aldous Huxley book Point Counter Point

Source: Point Counter Point

Nature

“Never forget what Jesus did for you. Never take lightly what it cost Him. And never assume that if it cost Him His very life, that it won't also cost you yours.”

Rich Mullins (1955–1997) American christian musician

Lufkin, Texas http://www.kidbrothers.net/words/concert-transcripts/lufkin-texas-jul1997-full.html (July 19, 1997) <br class="br">In Concert

Forgetting

“Age is terrible thief. Just when you're getting the hang of life, it knocks your legs out from under you and stoops your back”

Sara Gruen book Water for Elephants

Source: Water for Elephants

Age

“Cease, cows, life is short.”

Gabriel García Márquez book One Hundred Years of Solitude

Source: One Hundred Years of Solitude

“It is the responsibility of every adult… to make sure that children hear what we have learned from the lessons of life and to hear over and over that we love them and that they are not alone.”

Marian Wright Edelman (1939) American children's rights activist

Love, Children, Learning

“I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end.”

Simone de Beauvoir book La Vieillesse

Pt. 2, Ch. 2: Time, activity, history, p. 412
The Coming of Age (1970)
Source: La Vieillesse

“It won't be a normal life-I know that. But it will be a life. A life together.”

David Levithan book Every Day

Source: Every Day

“Our life would be what we made of it--nothing more, nothing less.”

Paul Zindel book The Pigman

Source: The Pigman

“Idleness, we are accustomed to say, is the root of all evil. To prevent this evil, work is recommended…. Idleness as such is by no means a root of evil; on the contrary, it is truly a divine life, if one is not bored….”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

Source: Either/Or: A Fragment of Life

Evil

“Life sure is easier when you're rich."
"And a natural born charmer. Don't forget that part."
"How could I?" she retorted. "It's the only thing we have in common.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Natural Born Charmer

Nature, Parting, Forgetting

“In life, you have to take lots of decisions and if you don't take decisions you would never do anything because you would spend all your time choosing between things you could do.”

Mark Haddon book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Source: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Decision, Time

“Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.”

Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) South african Nobel-winning writer

Interview with Jannika Hurwitt, published in Paris Review, 88 (Summer 1983) 82–127; reprinted in Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, Sixth Series (1984) (the interview took place in two parts: fall 1979/spring 1980)

Sense

“My life used to be full of everything. Now if you aren't with me I haven't a thing in the world.”

Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms

World

“I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

Hurt, Hurtful

“Me, I was still in the pygmy hippo in a skirt, singing lusty songs about Solomon's private life and a giant stone back and forth through the air as I climbed out of the quarry at the edge of the site.”

Jonathan Stroud book The Ring of Solomon

Source: The Ring of Solomon

Singing

“Their Maker, she said, gives them the sky to carry because they are strong. These people do not know who they are, but if you see a lot of trouble in your life, it is because you were chosen to carry part of the sky on your head. -pg. 25”

Edwidge Danticat (1969) Novelist, short story writer, memoirist

People, Strong, Parting

“She was the most painful, most glorious dance of his life”

Anne Bishop (1955) American fiction writer

Source: Heir to the Shadows

Pain, Dance

“Perhaps all romance is like that; not a contract between equal parties but an explosion of dreams and desires that can find no outlet in everyday life. Only a drama will do and while the fireworks last the sky is a different colour.”

Jeanette Winterson book The Passion

Source: The Passion

Dreams

“Optimism, when applied to your life, develops strength and peace within you.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer

Peace, Optimism

“Would you like to know your future?

If your answer is yes, think again. Not knowing is the greatest life motivator.

So enjoy, endure, survive each moment as it comes to you in its proper sequence -- a surprise.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Motivation, Thinking, Future

“Words," he said, "is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life.”

Roald Dahl The BFG

Source: The BFG

Problem

“We'd spent maybe ten minutes together, during which time I'd accidentally swung a sword at her, she'd saved my life, and I'd run away chased by a band of supernatural killing machines. You know, your typical chance meeting.”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Chance, Time

“A life isn't measured in hours and minutes. It's the quality, not the length.”

Gabrielle Zevin book Elsewhere

Source: Elsewhere

“To change one’s life:
1. Start immediately.
2. Do it flamboyantly.
3. No exceptions.”

William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist

Change

“The ability to read becomes devalued when what one has learned to read adds nothing of importance to one's life.”

Bruno Bettelheim (1903–1990) child psychologist and writer

Learning, Reading

“Meg, don't you think you'd make a better adjustment to life if you faced facts?"
I do face facts," Meg said.
They're lots easier to face than people, I can tell you.”

Madeleine L'Engle book A Wrinkle in Time

Source: A Wrinkle in Time

People, Thinking

“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.”

Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer

Motivational, Back To Work, Moving On

“backing down can become a way of life”

Oliver James (1953) British psychologist

Way

“It is a paradox. Life is that way. God designed it that way. I believe I met him once. He was full of mischief.”

Christopher Pike (1954) American author Kevin Christopher McFadden

Source: Black Blood

God, Way

“I had my whole life planned.. I knew exactly where it was taking me..”

Sara Gruen book Water for Elephants

Source: Water for Elephants

“She (Annabeth) put her hand on my spine, and my skin tingled. I (Percy) moved her fingers to the one spot that grounded me to my mortal life. A thousand volts of electricity seemed to arc through my body.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

“Yes, I found myself, by insensible degrees, sincerely fond of her; and the happiest hours of my life were what I spent with her.”

Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility

Source: Sense and Sensibility

Sincerity

“How pointless life could be, what a foolish business of inventing things to love, just so you could dread losing them.”

Barbara Kingsolver book Prodigal Summer

Source: Prodigal Summer

Love, Business

“When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.”

Rita Mae Brown (1944) Novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist

“I stood on Susan Boone's front porch, feeling lame. But then, since I've pretty much felt lame my entire life, this was no big surprise. On the other hand, usually I felt lame for no particular reason. This time I really had a reason to feel lame.”

Meg Cabot book All American Girl

Source: All-American Girl

Feeling, Time

“The only way to remove pain from death is to remove love from life.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Source: The Walk

Love, Death, Pain, Way

“Life seemed nearest to acceptable at four A. M.”

Wally Lamb book She's Come Undone

Source: She's Come Undone

“Billions of things are going on in this world. You can think about it all you want, but life is still going to keep on happening.”

Michael Singer (1945) American landscape architect

Source: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

World, Thinking

“If we wait until life is in order before making our decision, we'll never make any”

Judith McCoy Miller (1944) American writer

Source: An Uncertain Dream

Decision, Waiting

“My whole life is about forgetting. It's my most valuable job skill.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Survivor

Source: Survivor

Forgetting

“If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way you think.”

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

Way, Thinking, Change

“It was, of course, another test. Everything in human life was a test. That was why they all looked so stressed out.”

Matt Haig (1975) British writer

Source: The Humans

“My name is Magnus Chase. I’m sixteen years old. This is the story of how my life went downhill after I got myself killed.”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

“The masters of life know the way, for they listen to the voice within them, the voice of wisdom and simplicity, the voice that reasons beyond cleverness and knows beyond knowledge.”

Benjamin Hoff book The Tao of Pooh

Source: The Tao of Pooh

Wisdom, Way, Knowledge

“Life is problems. Living is solving problems.”

Raymond E. Feist book Silverthorn

Source: Silverthorn

Problem

“Life's too slippery for books, Clarice; anger appears as lust, lupus presents as hives.”

Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs

Source: The Silence of the Lambs

Books, Appearance, Anger

“I can't let safety and security become the focus of my life.”

Judy Blume Tiger Eyes

Source: Tiger Eyes

“Yep, that pretty much describes my life: because Poseidon.”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

“There's something else there as well, something entirely her own. An ability to look into the confusing mess of life and see things for what they are.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

“There's the life you live and the life you leave behind. but what you share with someone else - especially someone you love - that's not just how you bury your past. It's how you write you future.”

Brad Meltzer book The Book of Lies

Source: The Book of Lies

Love, Past, Future

“How to Draw a Picture (XII)

Know when you're finished, and when you are, put your pencil or your paintbrush down. All the rest is only life.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Drawing

“Lets dedicate ourselves to what the ancient greeks wrote so many years ago, to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that”

Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) American politician and brother of John F. Kennedy

Speech on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)
Context: And let's dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

World

“That's why I write, because life never works except in retrospect. You can't control life, at least you can control your version.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist

Source: Stranger than Fiction

“He was my first boyfriend, and I made him my everything - he was my new life, my new love, my new compass point. I guess that's the danger with firsts - you lose all sense of proportion.”

David Levithan Boy Meets Boy

Source: Boy Meets Boy

Love, Sense

“That is the freakiest thing that ever happened to me.” I nodded toward the mess. “And if you knew my life, you’d realize just how freaky that is.”

Patricia Briggs book Frost Burned

Source: Frost Burned

“Sometimes life is not about what u want to do but what u ought to do”

Chetan Bhagat (1974) Indian author, born 1974

Source: Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition

“After a good-looking boy gives you rabies two, three times, you'll settle down and marry somebody less exciting for the rest of your life”

Chuck Palahniuk book Rant

Source: Rant

Boy, Time

“This earthly life is a battle,' said Ma. 'If it isn't one thing to contend with, it's another. It always has been so, and it always will be. The sooner you make up your mind to that, the better off you are, and more thankful for your pleasures.”

Laura Ingalls Wilder book Little Town on the Prairie

Source: Little Town on the Prairie

Pleasure

“Watch it." he said at last. "I can make your life miserable." I gave him an icy smile. "You already have, and that's why i've got the advantage. You've done your worst but you haven't seen what i can do yet.”

Richelle Mead Bloodlines

Source: Bloodlines

Smile

“If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?”

Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…

Book title (1978)
Source: When God Created Mothers

Cute

“Life, Enza decided, is not about what you get, but what is taken from you. It's in the things we lose that we discover what we most treasure.”

Adriana Trigiani (1970) American film director

Source: The Shoemaker's Wife

“Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.”

Simone Weil (1909–1943) French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist

Imagination

“This is motherhood for you,' said my own mother. 'Going through life with your heart outside your body.”

Jennifer Weiner (1970) American writer

Heart

“nothing she did
or said

was quite
what she meant

but still her life
could be called a monument

shaped in a slant
of available light

and set to the movement
of possible music”

Carol Shields (1935–2003) American author

Music, Light

“I desired you before, but I never loved you until this life.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Endless Knight

Love

“Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in.”

Katherine Mansfield book Je ne parle pas français

"Je ne parle pas français," http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/mansfield/bliss/bliss.html#francais from Bliss and Other Stories (1920) <br class="br">Variant: I have made it a rule of my life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy, and no one who intends to become a writer can afford to indulge in it. <br class="br">Context: I have made it a rule of my life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy, and no one who intends to become a writer can afford to indulge in it. You can't get it into shape; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in.