
Source: The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Source: The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Chicago, IL http://www.trsite.org/content/pages/speaking-loudly (17 June 1912)
1910s
“Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live.”
As Quote Investigator explains, allegories about animals doing impossible things have been incredibly popular in the past century. But no, this one isn't from Einstein. (Source: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/04/06/fish-climb/.)
Misattributed
Variant: Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
“I do not exist to impress the world. I exist to live my life in a way that will make me happy.”
Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
“Without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all.”
Source: On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life
“The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.”
Source: Modern Man in Search of a Soul, p. 69
“I must be lean & write & make worlds beside this to live in.”
“Real living is living for others.”
Source: On the Heights of Despair (1934)
“He's just rather more lively than most fossils.”
Source: What Every Body is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People
“The idea is not to live forever, it is to create something that will.”
“I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938), I Philosophy
Variant: While I thought I have been learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.
“I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.”
As quoted in Peter's Quotations : Ideas for Our Time (1972) by Laurence J. Peter, p. 5
“Any idiot can face a crisis—it’s day to day living that wears you out.”
Source: Lettres à Génica Athanasiou
“The busier we are, the more acutely we feel that we live, the more conscious we are of life.”
Source: The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod
Source: Enough Rope
“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.”
Source: The Crucible (1953)
Context: Danforth: Do you mean to deny this confession when you are free?
Proctor: I mean to deny nothing!
Danforth: Then explain to me, Mr. Proctor, why you will not let —
Proctor: [With the cry of his whole soul] Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
Source: The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod
“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live.”
"Taming the Bicycle" (1917)
“Live in the Moment", "Empty Your Mind of the Trash"
Wisdom is the Use of Knowledge”
“A man who does not have something for which he is willing to die is not fit to live.”
Source: The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod
The last sentence is from the 16 October 1854 Peoria speech, slightly paraphrased. No known contemporary source for the rest. It first appears, attributed to Lincoln, in US religious/inspirational journals in 1907-8, such as p123, Friends Intelligencer: a religious and family journal, Volume 65, Issue 8 (1908)
Misattributed
“Remember, man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.”
Source: The Spiritual Life (1947), p. 248
Time (July 15, 1985)
Source: The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod
“It is better to live rich, than to die rich.”
April 17, 1778
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
“All our lives we sweat and save,
Building for a shallow grave.”
“But do we really live? To live without knowing what life is - is that living?”
Source: The Book of Disquiet
“Hades was the personification of dark and dangerous--a living, breathing Batman.”
Source: Goddess of Spring
“Am I living in a way which is deeply satisfying to me, and which truly expresses me?”
“The most interesting thing about artists is how they live”
Source: The Writings of Marcel Duchamp
Post-Presidency, Nobel lecture (2002)
Source: The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture
Source: I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections
“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”
They Call Me Coach (1972)
Variant: You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you
John Lennon, in "Instant Karma!" (written 27 January 1970)
Lyrics
Context: Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you off your feet
Better recognize your brothers
Everyone you meet Why in the world are we here?
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on Earth are you there
When you're everywhere
Gonna get your share Well, we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah, we all shine on
C'mon and on and on, on, on