Atul Gawande book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Source: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Source: Something More, A Consideration of the Vast, Undeveloped Resources of Life (1920), p. 67
Context: Physical life is thrust upon us, we have no choice in the matter. Not so with the spiritual life. The possession of spiritual life involves a conscious choice on our part; we may or may not possess it, depending upon the choice we make.
Atul Gawande book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Source: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist
The Ageless Wisdom, An Introduction to Humanity's Spiritual Legacy (1996)
“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place--or not to bother”
Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
Thomas Berry (1914–2009) American priest
Reported in Food for the Spirit https://books.google.it/books?id=EL8nAAAAYAAJ by Steven Rosen (New York: Bala Books, 1987), in the “Critics praise” section.
John Flavel (1627–1691) English Presbyterian clergyman
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 319.
Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970) second president of Egypt
Gamal Abdel Nasser, speech to Egypt's National Assembly, Cairo (November 6, 1969), as reported by The Washington Post (November 7, 1969), p. 1.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer
Variant: You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.