Quotes about living
page 83

Jennifer Beals photo
Ayn Rand photo
Hermann Hesse photo
David Fleming photo
Ursula K. Le Guin photo
Thich Nhat Tu photo

“Dialogue: In dialogue, it does not matter whether you are a winner or loser, neither the opponent is right or wrong; the important thing is how you could realise and live the truth peacefully.”

Thich Nhat Tu (1969) Vietnamese philosopher

Buddhist Socteriological Ethics: A Study of the Buddha’s Central Teachings (1999)

Sidonius Apollinaris photo

“How dismal the necessity of birth! how miserable the necessity of living! how hard the necessity of death!”
O neccessitas abiecta nascendi, vivendi misera dura moriendi.

Sidonius Apollinaris (430–489) Gaulish poet, aristocrat and bishop

Lib. 8, Ep. 11, sect. 4; vol. 2, p. 463.
Epistularum

Julia Gillard photo

“I don’t see what alternate reality was possible other than the one’s we lived through. So I think people are really wistfully hoping for something that was never going to be.”

Julia Gillard (1961) Australian politician and lawyer, 27th Prime Minister of Australia

In response to suggestions that Rudd and Gillard were better as a team, as opposed to rivals.
The Killing Season, Episode three: The Long Shadow (2010–13)

Andrea Dworkin photo
Atal Bihari Vajpayee photo
J. William Fulbright photo
James O'Keefe photo
Max Scheler photo
Robert T. Kiyosaki photo

“Money is running their lives, and they refuse to tell the truth about that. Money is in control of their emotions and hence their souls.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki (1947) American finance author , investor

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

Shimon Peres photo
Mark Manson photo

“I try to live with few rules, but one that I’ve adopted over the years is this: if it’s down to me being screwed up, or everybody else being screwed up, it is far, far, far more likely that I’m the one who’s screwed up.”

Mark Manson (1984) American writer and blogger

Source: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (2016), Chapter 6, “You’re Wrong About Everything (But So Am I)” (pp. 145-146)

Aldo Leopold photo

“The continuum in which we live is not the kind of place in which middles can be unambiguously excluded.”

Pragmatism and the Outlook of Modern Science (1966)

P. W. Botha photo

“The white people who came here lived at a very much higher standard than the indigenous peoples, and with a very rich tradition which they brought with them from Europe.”

P. W. Botha (1916–2006) South African prime minister

As cited in Dictionary of South African Quotations, Jennifer Crwys-Williams, Penguin Books 1994, p. 441

Bill Bryson photo
Pierre Corneille photo

“He who can live in infamy is unworthy of life.”

Qui peut vivre infâme est indigne du jour.
Don Diègue, act I, scene v.
Le Cid (1636)

Zainab Salbi photo
Martial photo

“A man who lives everywhere lives nowhere.”
Quisquis ubique habitat, Maxime, nusquam habitat.

VII, 73.
Epigrams (c. 80 – 104 AD)

Eugene J. Martin photo

“Rather than studying the laws of cause and effect, people spend their lives being the effect and running from the cause.”

Eugene J. Martin (1938–2005) American artist

Annotated Drawings by Eugene J. Martin: 1977-1978

Sam Houston photo
Alexander Maclaren photo
Thomas Merton photo

“The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

Statement from his final address, during a conference on East-West monastic dialogue, delivered just two hours before his death (10 December 1968), quoted in Religious Education, Vol. 73 (1978), p. 292, and in The Boundless Circle : Caring for Creatures and Creation (1996) by Michael W. Fox.

John Harvey Kellogg photo
W.C. Fields photo

“Here lies W. C. Fields. I would rather be living in Philadelphia.”

W.C. Fields (1880–1946) actor

This was an epitaph Fields proposed for himself in a 1925 article in Vanity Fair. It refers to his long standing jokes about Philadelphia (his actual birthplace), and the grave being one place he might actually not prefer to be. This is often repeated as "On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.", or "All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia." which he might have stated at other times. It has also sometimes been distorted into a final dig at Philadelphia: "Better here than in Philadelphia." Fields' actual tomb at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California simply reads "W. C. Fields 1880–1946".

Julian Assange photo
Hunter S. Thompson photo

“Easier to keep changing your life than to live it.”

James Richardson (1950) American poet

#55
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten Second Essays (2001)

Glen Cook photo

“Soldiers live. And wonder why.”

Source: Water Sleeps (1999), Chapter 60 (p. 212; repeated on p. 356)

Calvin Coolidge photo
Amir Taheri photo
Davey Havok photo
Hassan Rouhani photo

“A strong government does not mean a government that interferes and intervenes in all affairs. It is not a government that limits the lives of people. This is not a strong government.”

Hassan Rouhani (1948) 7th President of Islamic Republic of Iran

Rouhani urges end to meddling in Iranians' private lives http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23161972, BBC News, (3 July, 2013)

Nick Drake photo
Amir Taheri photo

“Palestinians living in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria have been massacred both by Bashar al-Assad’s troops and throat-cutting mujahideen from ISIS. The massacre of Christians, Yazidis and Druze minorities by Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq contrasts with the safety those groups enjoy in Israel.”

Amir Taheri (1942) Iranian journalist

Forget the Palestinians: Arab states have too much else to worry about http://nypost.com/2015/07/12/forget-the-palestinians-arab-states-have-too-much-else-to-worry-about/, New York Post (July 12, 2015).
New York Post

Joseph Addison photo

“In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow,
Thou 'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow,
Hast so much wit and mirth and spleen about thee,
There is no living with thee, nor without thee.”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

Spectator, No. 68.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

James Thurber photo

“He picked out this sentence in a New Yorker casual of mine: "After dinner, the men moved into the living room," and he wanted to know why I, or the editors, had put in the comma. I could explain that one all night. I wrote back that this particular comma was Ross's way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up.”

James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright

The Years with Ross (Little Brown & Co, 1957, pg.267)

Variant: From one casual of mine he picked this sentence. “After dinner, the men moved into the living room.” I explained to the professor that this was Ross’s way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up. There must, as we know, be a comma after every move, made by men, on this earth.

Memo to The New Yorker (1959); reprinted in New York Times Book Review (4 December 1988); Harold Ross was the editor of The New Yorker from its inception until 1951, and well-known for the overuse of commas
From other writings

“Since taking this job things have happened. I've been spending my free time studying the Word. Each night the Lord seemed to get hold of me a little more. Night before last I was reading in Nehemiah. I finished the book, and read it through again. Here was a man who left everything as far as position was concerned to go do a job nobody else could handle. And because he went the whole remnant back in Jerusalem got right with the Lord. Obstacles and hindrances fell away and a great work was done. Jim, I couldn't get away from it. The Lord was dealing with me. On the way home yesterday morning I took a long walk and came to a decision which I know is of the Lord. In all honesty before the Lord I say that no one or nothing beyond Himself and the Word has any bearing upon what I've decided to do. I have one desire now - to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy into it. Maybe He'll send me someplace where the name of Jesus Christ is unknown. Jim, I'm taking the Lord at His word, and I'm trusting Him to prove His Word. It's kind of like putting all your eggs in one basket, but we've already put our trust in Him for salvation, so why not do it as far as our life is concerned? If there's nothing to this business of eternal life we might as well lose everything in one crack and throw our present life away with out life hereafter. But if there is something to it, then everything else the Lord says must hold true likewise. Pray for me, Jim.”

Ed McCully (1927–1956) American Christian missionary
Christopher Langton photo
Anthony Burgess photo
Rudy Giuliani photo

“The attacks of September 11 were intended to break our spirit, instead we have emerged stronger and more unified. We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than ever to live our lives in freedom”

Rudy Giuliani (1944–2001) American businessperson and politician, former mayor of New York City

Dedication for the exhibit "After September 11 : Images from Ground Zero." (31 December 2001) http://italy.usembassy.gov/policy/events/020311/

Terry McAuliffe photo

“I wanted to be here today to remember Jay and be here with the family, the fond memories both Dorothy and I had with Jay Cullen, and his spirit for the McAuliffe family, will live on and on in Virginia.”

Terry McAuliffe (1957) American businessman and politician

7 February 2018 WRIC interview https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-state-police-dedicate-aviation-hangar-to-fallen-lt-jay-cullen_20180326073014281/1078236563

Samir Geagea photo

“I have spent 11 horrific years in solitary confinement in a 6-square-meter dungeon three floors underground without sunlight or fresh air. But I endured my hardships because I was merely living my convictions.”

Samir Geagea (1952) Lebanese politician and war lord

On his release from prison, quoted in "Samir, Sitrida Geagea Airborne for Month-Long Recuperation Abroad" at Lebanese Forces.com (26 July 2005) http://www.lebaneseforces.com/2005_07_01_archive.asp

Ray Comfort photo
Nayef Al-Rodhan photo
Earl Long photo

“I don't have an enemy in this state I hope, except rascals like Bill Dodd, Ray Knight and deLesseps Morrison. I'm proud of them! I'll be back. Keep your eye on the indicators. I thought I owed it to you to come look you in the eye and let as many of you see me and see I'm living and I'm not nuts. If I'm nuts, I've been nuts all my life. Thank ya, and God bless ya.”

Earl Long (1895–1960) American politician and the 45th Governor of Louisiana for three non-consecutive terms

Quoted in "1959 Year In Review: Governor Earl Long Goes Crazy," http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1959/Governor-Earl-Long-Goes-Crazy/12295509433704-5/ UPI.com (1959).

James Anthony Froude photo
Eric Garcetti photo

“[In response to using profanity] I think I was just being myself for a moment there…Look, I think people should be kind of light about this. It's something that plenty of people have heard in their lives for sure.”

Eric Garcetti (1971) American politician

quoted by Michael Finnegan of the Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-garcetti-kings-swearing-apology-20140617-story.html (July 17, 2014)
2014, Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup celebration

Adolf Hitler photo
M.I.A. photo
Sinclair Lewis photo
Anatoliy Tymoshchuk photo
Aldous Huxley photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Christopher Titus photo
Peter Greenaway photo
Georgia O'Keeffe photo
Martin Scorsese photo

“I don't think there is any difference between fantasy and reality in the way these should be approached in a film. Of course if you live that way you are clinically insane.”

Martin Scorsese (1942) American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor

Scorcese on Scorsese, "Mean Streets—Alice Doesn't Live here Anymore—Taxi Driver".

Paul Celan photo

“A little stallion gallops across the leafing fingers-
Black the gate leaps open, I sing;
How did we live here?”

Paul Celan (1920–1970) Romanian poet and translator

"Tallow Lamp" in: Paul Celan (1972) Selected poems. p. 22

Marcus Tullius Cicero photo
Ruskin Bond photo
Rab Butler photo
Carlo Carrà photo
Percy Bysshe Shelley photo
Pierre Trudeau photo

“I was too busy doing my job and living my life to spend time keeping notes for some future volume of memoirs.”

Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000) 15th Prime Minister of Canada

Preface, p. ix
Memoirs (1993)

“The peaceful Indian Mussalman, descended beyond doubt from Hindu ancestors, was dressed up in the garb of a foreign barbarian, as a breaker of temples and as an eater of beef and declared to be a military colonist in the land he had lived for about thirty of forty centuries.”

Mohammad Habib (1895–1971) Indian historian

Source: Attributed in [Nizami, K. A., w:K. A. Nizami, Politics and Society during the Early Medieval Period: Collected Works of Professor Mohammad Habib, 1974, 12]. Later quoted in [Eaton, Richard M., Temple Desecration And Indo-Muslim States, Journal of Islamic Studies, 2000, 11, 3, 283–319, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26198197, 0955-2340] Which was later quoted in [Hirst, Jacqueline Suthren, w:Jacqueline Suthren Hirst, Zavos, John, Religious Traditions in Modern South Asia, Routledge, 978-1-136-62667-8, 239, https://books.google.com/books?id=voGoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT239, 2013] note: Attributed
Ref: en.wikiquote.org - Mohammad Habib / Attributed

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson photo
Nigel Cumberland photo

“Dreams are the fuel for your success. Without them there can never be any meaningful and lasting success in your life. Like a car engine without high-quality fuel you risk living a life that never quite gets started.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, 100 Things Successful People Do: Little Exercises for Successful Living (2016) https://books.google.ae/books?idnu0lCwAAQBAJ&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIMjAE

Sebastian Gorka photo
Jean Cocteau photo

“That pile of paper on his left side went on living like the watch on a dead soldier’s wrist.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

On his visit to the deathbed of Marcel Proust, as quoted in "Cocteau: The Great Enchanter" by Edmund White Vogue (May 1984)

David Berg photo
John Varley photo

“I found that it is much more pleasurable to read adventures than to live them.”

Source: The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977), Chapter 23 (p. 210)

Leo Tolstoy photo

“We cannot pretend that we do not see the armed policeman who marches up and down beneath our window to guarantee our security while we eat our luxurious dinner, or look at the new piece at the theater, or that we are unaware of the existence of the soldiers who will make their appearance with guns and cartridges directly our property is attacked.
We know very well that we are only allowed to go on eating our dinner, to finish seeing the new play, or to enjoy to the end the ball, the Christmas fete, the promenade, the races or, the hunt, thanks to the policeman's revolver or the soldier's rifle, which will shoot down the famished outcast who has been robbed of his share, and who looks round the corner with covetous eyes at our pleasures, ready to interrupt them instantly, were not policeman and soldier there prepared to run up at our first call for help.
And therefore just as a brigand caught in broad daylight in the act cannot persuade us that he did not lift his knife in order to rob his victim of his purse, and had no thought of killing him, we too, it would seem, cannot persuade ourselves or others that the soldiers and policemen around us are not to guard us, but only for defense against foreign foes, and to regulate traffic and fetes and reviews; we cannot persuade ourselves and others that we do not know that the men do not like dying of hunger, bereft of the right to gain their subsistence from the earth on which they live; that they do not like working underground, in the water, or in the stifling heat, for ten to fourteen hours a day, at night in factories to manufacture objects for our pleasure. One would imagine it impossible to deny what is so obvious. Yet it is denied.”

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer

Source: The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894), Chapter 12

William Penn photo
Grant MacEwan photo

“I believe instinctively in a God for whom I am prepared to search.

I believe it is an offence against the God of Nature for me to accept any hand-me-down, man-defined religion or creed without the test of reason. I believe no man dead or alive knows more about God than I can know by searching.

I believe that the God of Nature must be without prejudice, with exactly the same concern for all of His children, and that the human invokes no more, no less of fatherly love than the beaver or the sparrow.

I believe I am an integral part of the environment and, as a good subject, I must establish an enduring relationship with my surroundings. My dependence upon the land is fundamental.

I believe destructive waste and greedy exploitation are sins.

I believe the biggest challenge is in being a helper rather than a destroyer of the treasures in Nature's storehouse, a conserver, a husbandman and partner in caring for the Vineyard.

I accept, with apologies to Albert Schweitzer, "a Reverence for Life" and all that is of the Great Spirit's creation.

I believe mortality is not complete until the individual holds all of the Great Spirit's creatures in brotherhood and has compassion for all. A fundamental concept of Good consists of working to preserve all creatures with feeling and the will to live.

I am prepared to stand before my Maker, the Ruler of the entire Universe, with no other plea than that I have tried to leave things in His Vineyard better than I found them.”

Grant MacEwan (1902–2000) Alberta politician, Mayor of Calgary, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta

[Will The Real Alberta Please Stand Up, University of Alberta Press, 2010, 185–186, Geo Takach] The MacEwan Creed, 1969 http://www.macewan.ca/web/services/ims/client/upload/ACF16FF.pdf.

Patrick Matthew photo
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow photo
Condoleezza Rice photo

“Writers who are also artist's only think of themselves as truly living when they are engaged in their sweet labour.”

Edward Storer (1880–1944) British writer

'Leigh Hunt' Herbert and Daniel, London, 1913

Robert J. Shiller photo
Zach Galifianakis photo
Kent Hovind photo
Joseph Beuys photo