“It's important never to lose the best moments through pride or fear, life is only one.”

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc.

“Oh if life were made of moments
Even now and then a bad one--!
But if life were only moments,
Then you'd never know you had one.”

Stephen Sondheim (1930) American composer and lyricist

“The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you free.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

“My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”

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

“Pride is a reaction formation to the feeling of inferiority, of the experience of powerlessness, of not being worthy enough of love. Only anxiety compels a person to lose moderation and to want to be more than he is. Out of fear of being an animal, he has to become an angel. Out of fear of being a nothing, a god. Anxiety never allows him to be simply a man.”

Eugen Drewermann (1940) German psychologist and theologian

“Two things cause people to be destroyed: fear of poverty and seeking superiority through pride.”

Ali (601–661) cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad

“One doesn't recognize the really important moments in one's life until it's too late.”

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer

“Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian

“One of the inescapable encumbrances of leading an interesting life is that there have to be moments when you almost lose it.”

Jimmy Buffett book A Pirate Looks at Fifty