Quotes about life
page 85

Arthur Schopenhauer photo

“Life is short and truth works far and lives long: let us speak the truth.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Source: The World as Will and Representation, Vol 1

Daniel Handler photo
Ayn Rand photo

“In order to deal with reality successfully - to pursue and achieve the values which his life requires - man needs self-esteem; he needs to be confident of his efficacy and worth.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

Source: The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism

Arnold Bennett photo
Richard Bach photo

“Having made the decision to love, had I chosen life instead of death?”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: The Bridge Across Forever: A True Love Story

Leila Aboulela photo
Vera Stanley Alder photo
E.E. Cummings photo
Sue Grafton photo

“In my opinion, there's no condition in life that can't be ameliorated by a dose of junk food.”

Sue Grafton (1940–2017) American writer

Source: Q is for Quarry

“There's always risk in life's most rewarding pursuits, isn't there?”

Ted Dekker (1962) American writer

Source: Blink of an Eye

Jodi Picoult photo
Alethea Kontis photo

“May we all be doomed to a happy life.”

Alethea Kontis (1976) American writer

Source: Enchanted

Ben Carson photo

“Maybe that is the best lesson I learned in my first semester at Yale, because if I had gone to a less-demanding school and continued to sail along on the top, I am sure I would never have attained the subsequent achievements in my life.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence

Andy Andrews photo
Georges Bataille photo
Gabrielle Zevin photo

“They had only ever discussed books but what, in this life, is more personal than books?”

Gabrielle Zevin (1977) American writer

Source: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Douglas Coupland photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Erica Jong photo
Jorge Luis Borges photo

“Life itself is a quotation.”

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature

Quoted in Cool Memories (1987) by Jean Baudrillard, (trans. 1990) Ch. 5; heard by Baudrillard at a lecture given in Paris.

Mitch Albom photo
Thich Nhat Hanh photo

“Know that life can only be found in the present moment.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Variant: Life is available only in the present moment.
Source: Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Shirley Hazzard photo

“Poetry has been the longest pleasure of my life.”

Shirley Hazzard (1931–2016) Australian-Anglo-American novelist, short story writer, memoirist, non-fiction writer
Sören Kierkegaard photo
Mona Simpson photo
David Levithan photo
Eugene H. Peterson photo

“I will not try to run my own life or the lives of others; that is God's business.”

Eugene H. Peterson (1932–2018) American translator

Source: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

Meg Cabot photo
Miranda July photo

“Life is just this way, broken, and I am crazy to hope for something else.”

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

Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You

Ayn Rand photo
Sebastian Junger photo

“War is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever heard of.”

Sebastian Junger (1962) American author, journalist and documentarian

Source: War

Marcus Tullius Cicero photo

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.”
Vita enim mortuorum in memoria vivorum est posita.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

Philippica IX, 5.
Source: Philippicae – Philippics (44 BC)

F. Scott Fitzgerald photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Brandon Sanderson photo
Marcus Tullius Cicero photo
Rachel Cohn photo
George Gordon Byron photo
Cormac McCarthy photo
Richelle Mead photo
Gloria Steinem photo
Franz Kafka photo
Oprah Winfrey photo

“Life is about becoming more of who you really are….”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
Borís Pasternak photo
Hans Urs Von Balthasar photo
Percy Bysshe Shelley photo
Michel Houellebecq photo
Martin Amis photo

“My life looked good on paper - where, in fact, almost all of it was being lived.”

Martin Amis (1949) Welsh novelist

Source: Experience: A Memoir

Karen Marie Moning photo
Nick Hornby photo
Alexandre Dumas photo

“Now I'd like someone to tell me there is no drama in real life!”

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Nicholas Sparks photo
Alain de Botton photo
Lisa Lutz photo
Ann Brashares photo
Confucius photo

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Source: The Analects of Confucius:

Markus Zusak photo
Alan Moore photo

“Life isn’t divided into genres. It’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel.”

Alan Moore (1953) English writer primarily known for his work in comic books

"The Mustard magazine interview" (January 2005)
Context: Life isn’t divided into genres. It’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky.

Nicole Richie photo

“Have a nice rest of your life.”

Nicole Richie (1981) American television personality, musician, actress, and author
Fannie Flagg photo
Elizabeth Gilbert photo
Chuck Palahniuk photo

“Life is short, death is forever”

Source: Damned

Andy Andrews photo
Joseph Campbell photo

“All life stinks and you must embrace that with compassion.”

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

Source: Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation

T.S. Eliot photo

“Where is the Life we lost in living?”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author
Rick Riordan photo
Brandon Sanderson photo
Florence Scovel Shinn photo

“The game of life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.”

Florence Scovel Shinn (1871–1940) American writer

The Game of Life and How to Play It https://archive.org/details/gameoflifehowtop00shin (1925)

Abraham Joshua Heschel photo
Jeanette Winterson photo
Elizabeth Barrett Browning photo
Chuck Palahniuk photo
Franz Kafka photo
Spencer W. Kimball photo

“My life is like my shoes, worn out by service.”

Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Bernhard Schlink photo
Jeffrey Eugenides photo
René Descartes photo

“I desire to live in peace and to continue the life I have begun under the motto 'to live well you must live unseen”

René Descartes (1596–1650) French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist

Source: The Principles of Philosophy

Kate Chopin photo
Kabir photo
Zadie Smith photo
Cecelia Ahern photo

“Life has a way of getting what it wants when it really knows what it wants.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Source: The Time of My Life