Quotes about being
page 9

“But many of us seek community solely to escape the fear of being alone. Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”

Bell Hooks book All About Love: New Visions

Source: All About Love: New Visions

Love, Fear, Art, Communication

“The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained to liberation from the self.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

1940s, The World As I See It (1949)

Sense

“When you reach out to hurting people, that’s when God is going to make sure your needs are supplied. When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

God, People, Hurt

“Alltami (n.)

The ancient art of being able to balance the hot and cold shower taps.”

Douglas Adams book The Meaning of Liff

Source: The Deeper Meaning of Liff

Art

“Being free always involves being lonely.”

Kóbó Abe (1924–1993) Japanese writer, playwright, photographer and inventor

“Being rich is not about how much money you have or how many homes you own; it's the freedom to buy any book you want without looking at the price and wondering if you can afford it.”

John Waters (1946) American filmmaker, actor, comedian and writer

Variant: [W]hat I like best is staying home and reading. Being rich is not about how many homes you own. It’s the freedom to pick up any book you want without looking at the price and wondering whether you can afford it.
Source: Role Models

Money, Books, Home, Freedom

“I love love. I love having a lover and being one. The insularity of passion. I love it. I love the way it blurs the distinction between everyone who isn't one's lover.”

Tom Stoppard The Real Thing

Source: The Real Thing

Love, Way, Lovers, Passion

“In this instant, shaken to her very depths, this ecstatic human being has a first inkling that the soul is made of stuff so mysteriously elastic that a single event can make it big enough to contain the infinite.”

Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) Austrian writer

Source: The Post-Office Girl

Soul

“She had the perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very, dangerous to live even one day.”

Virginia Woolf book Mrs Dalloway

Source: Mrs. Dalloway

Feeling, Sense, Sea

“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Way, Animals

“Being his real brother I could feel I live in his shadows, but I never have and I do not now. I live in his glow.”

Michael Morpurgo book Private Peaceful

Source: Private Peaceful

Feeling

“Human beings believe just as they breathe - in order to survive.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Angel's Game

Source: The Angel's Game

“Since a time has come, Mademoiselle, when the severe laws of men no longer prevent women from applying themselves to the sciences and other disciplines, it seems to me that those of us who can should use this long-craved freedom to study and to let men see how greatly they wronged us when depriving us of its honor and advantages. And if any woman becomes so proficient as to be able to write down her thoughts, let her do so and not despise the honor, but rather flaunt it instead of fine clothes, necklaces, and rings. For these may be considered ours only by use, whereas the honor of being educated is ours entirely.”

Louise Labé (1524–1566) female French poet of the Renaissance, born in Lyon

Women, Men, Education, Law

“Where you are born should not dictate your potential as a human being.”

Roméo Dallaire (1946) Canadian politician

Source: They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers

“I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Love, Intelligence, Courage

“I have never thought, for my part, that man's freedom consists in his being able to do whatever he wills, but that he should not, by any human power, be forced to do what is against his will.”

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) Genevan philosopher

Source: Reveries of the Solitary Walker

Freedom, Parting

“Being terrified but going ahead and doing what must be done—that's courage. The one who feels no fear is a fool, and the one who lets fear rule him is a coward.”

Piers Anthony Castle Roogna

Source: Castle Roogna

Fear, Fools, Feeling, Courage

“Being responsible is taking ownership of your life. It means you have taken the first radical step to becoming a complete human being—fully conscious and fully human. In taking responsibility and beginning the journey toward conscious living, you are putting an end to the age-old patterns of assigning blame outward or heavenward. You have begun the greatest adventure life has to offer: the voyage inward.”

Sadhguru book Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy

Source: Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy

Life, Age

“It was like being in a Jane Austen novel, but one with far less clothing.”

Terry Pratchett book Nation

Source: Nation

Clothes

“By betrayal, I mean promising to be on your side, then being on somebody else's.”

Jeanette Winterson book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Source: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Betrayal

“People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave.”

Assata Shakur (1947) American activist who was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army

Source: Assata: An Autobiography

People, Thinking

“You'll start talking, and pretty soon we'll all start nodding, and then the next thing you know, I'm hang gliding off the Eiffel Tower at night, being chased by ninja vampires”

Kathy Reichs book Seizure

Source: Seizure

Night

“Oh, let me be mawkish for the nonce! I am so tired of being cynical.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita

Source: Lolita

“All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

Source: Gabriel García Márquez: a Life

Secret

“Knowing yourself is to be rooted in Being, instead of lost in your mind.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

“It was quite impossible to describe.

Here is what it looked like.

It looked like a piano sounds shortly after being dropped down a well. It tasted yellow, and it felt Paisley. It smelled like the total eclipse of the moon.”

Terry Pratchett book Sourcery

Source: Sourcery

“I didn't expect to recover from my second operation but since I did, I consider that I'm living on borrowed time. Every day that dawns is a gift to me and I take it in that way. I accept it gratefully without looking beyond it. I completely forget my physical suffering and all the unpleasantness of my present condition and I think only of the joy of seeing the sun rise once more and of being able to work a little bit, even under difficult conditions.”

Henri Matisse (1869–1954) French artist

Way, Thinking, Suffering, Time

“Being with him made my brain quiet. I didn't have to invent a thing.”

Jonathan Safran Foer (1977) Novelist

“I am probably responsible for the odd fact that people don't seem to name their daughters Lolita any more. I have heard of young female poodles being given that name since 1956, but of no human beings.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

People, Daughters

“Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

People, Communication, Loneliness

“Stella:
And when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby..
[she smiles to herself]
Blanche:
I guess that is what is meant by being in love..”

Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire

Source: A Streetcar Named Desire

Love, Smile, Baby, Cry

“To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

A Poet's Advice (1958)
Context: Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel …
the moment you feel, you're nobody-but-yourself.
To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

World, Fight, Night

“Be happy.
It's one way of being wise.”

Colette (1873–1954) 1873-1954 French novelist: wrote Gigi

Happiness, Way, Wise, Happy

“I have never been aware before how many faces there are. There are quantities of human beings, but there are many more faces, for each person has several.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian poet and writer

Personality

“Chaos is rejecting all you have learned. Chaos is being yourself.”

Emil M. Cioran book A Short History of Decay

Source: A Short History of Decay (1949)

Learning

“…I hate myself for not being able to go downstairs naturally and seek comfort in numbers. I hate myself for having to sit here and be torn between I know not what within me.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Hate, Nature

“Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being misunderstood.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“Why don't we have a little game? Let's pretend that we're human beings, and that we're actually alive.”

John Osborne Look Back in Anger

Source: Look Back in Anger

Game

“Mere animals couldn’t possibly manage to act like this. You need to be a human being to be really stupid.”

Terry Pratchett book Pyramids

Source: Pyramids

Stupidity, Animals

“I wish I hadn't cried so much!” said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out.
I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears!”

Lewis Carroll book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Way, Tear

“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

William Shakespeare As You Like It

Jaques, Act II, scene vii.
Variant: All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
Source: As You Like It (1599–1600)

Women, Men, Age, World

“this satsangh?’ You just drop that. You don’t have to get anything, okay? You don’t have to benefit from this. Just waste half a day and go. (Laughter) Really. ‘What should I get out of my meditation?’ Nothing. Just waste fifteen-twenty minutes every day. So do not meditate; just learn to waste some time. Nothing needs to happen. This is not about resting; this is not about becoming healthy; this is not about becoming enlightened; this is not about reaching heaven. All this is just wasting time. When you are not trying to be anything, not trying to get anywhere, you are being.”

Sadhguru (1957) Yogi, mystic, visionary and humanitarian

Source: Himalayan Lust

Laughter, Learning, Time

“The only thing more painful than being an active forgetter is to be an inert rememberer.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Variant: The only thing worse than being sad is for others to know you are sad.
Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Pain

“Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

People, Communication, Loneliness

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor

Nobel acceptance speech (1986)

Silence, Suffering, Help

“We are not human beings in search of a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings emersed in a human experience.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

“She was cold by nature, self-love predominating over passion; rather than being virtuous, she preferred to have her pleasures all to herself.”

Emile Zola (1840–1902) French writer (1840-1902)

Source: Pot Luck

Love, Pleasure, Nature, Passion

“In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”

Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher

Variant: Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.

Life, People, Time, Friendship

“She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist.”

Jean Paul Sartre book The Words

The Words (1964), speaking of his grandmother.

“Relaxing your hair is like being in prison. You're caged in. Your hair rules you. You didn't go running with Curt today because you don't want to sweat out this straightness. You're always battling to make your hair do what it wasn't meant to do.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book Americanah

Source: Americanah

“Being human is a complicated gig. So give that ol' dark night of the soul a hug. Howl the eternal yes!”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Soul, Night

“Everyone must work to live, but the purpose of life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others. Only then have we ourselves become true human beings.”

Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher

Life, Help

“Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.”

Erik H. Erikson (1902–1994) American German-born psychoanalyst & essayist

Life, Hope, Confidence

“When all else failed, she tried being reasonable.”

Terry Pratchett book Johnny and the Bomb

Source: Johnny and the Bomb

“People and relationships never stop being a work in progress”

Nora Roberts Vision in White

Source: Vision in White

People

“Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.”

Mark Twain book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Source: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“Deep at the center of my being there is an infinite well of love.”

Louise L. Hay book You Can Heal Your Life

Source: You Can Heal Your Life

Love

“There isn't so much to be afraid of, out there. I can remember thinking it was funny to find that out, on the last night of my life; I'd spent the rest of it being afraid of everything.”

Nick Hornby book A Long Way Down

Source: A Long Way Down

Life, Thinking, Night

“Space flights are merely an escape, a fleeing away from oneself, because it is easier to go to Mars or to the moon than it is to penetrate one's own being.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

“Happiness is the feeling that power increases - that resistance is being overcome.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Source: The Anti-Christ

Happiness, Feeling, Motivational, Deep

“Canada is the essence of not being. Not English, not American, it is the mathematic of not being. And a subtle flavour - we're more like celery as a flavour.”

Mike Myers (1963) Canadian- British- American actor, comedian, singer, screenwriter, and film producer

Mathematics

“What do you want? Where's the goddamn ice I ordered? Where's the booze? There's a war on, man! People are being killed!”

Hunter S. Thompson book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Source: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

War, People

“The downside of my celebrity is that I cannot go anywhere in the world without being recognized. It is not enough for me to wear dark sunglasses and a wig. The wheelchair gives me away.”

Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author

Interview on Israeli television, as quoted in "Happy 65th Birthday to Prof. Stephen Hawking!" at StarTrek.com (8 January 2007) http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/37695.html

World

“I wishcould manage to be glad!" the Queen said. "Only I never can remember the rule. You must be very happy, living in this wood, and being glad whenever you like!”

Lewis Carroll book Through the Looking-Glass

Source: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

Happiness

“Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth.”

Theodor W. Adorno book Minima Moralia

Kunst ist Magie, befreit von der Lüge, Wahrheit zu sein.
E. Jephcott, trans. (1974), § 143
Minima Moralia (1951)

Truth, Lie, Art

“Human beings of any age need to approve of themselves; the bad times in history come when they cannot.”

Barbara W. Tuchman (1912–1989) American historian and author

Source: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

Age, History, Time

“I want to be good. I can't bear the idea of my soul being hideous.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Soul, Idea

“Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker

Sincerity

“Plain women are always jealous of their husbands. Beautiful women never are. They are always so occupied with being jealous of other women's husbands.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Women, Beauty

“◦"At the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”

James Allen book As a Man Thinketh

As A Man Thinketh (1902)
Source: As a Man Thinketh

Thinking

“when i reached the bottom, i finally understood what Guthrie meant when he shouted, "LIBERO!" It was a celebration of being alive”

Sharon Creech book Bloomability

Source: Bloomability

“Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”

John Locke book Two Treatises of Government

Two Treatises of Government (1689)
Source: Second Treatise of Government, Ch. II, sec. 6
Context: The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.

Life, Health