Quotes about purpose
page 31

“Here is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Knowledge

“I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Wisdom, Future, Country, Wealth

“Let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.”

Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese artist, poet, and writer

Friendship, Friendship, For Friend, For Bestfriend

“To want to be what one can be is purpose in life.”

Cynthia Ozick (1928) American writer

Life

“Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

“People who claim they are motivated by the Purpose end up behaving differently—and generally better—than people who serve other masters.”
“So it is like believing in God.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Maybe yes. But without the theology, the scripture, the pigheaded certainty.”
Epilogue (p. 860)
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

God, People, Motivation

“If it is right that the State should resume its authority over the land for the purposes of burying the dead, it is surely also right that it should exercise its ownership where it is necessary it should do so to feed the living.”

David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech in Killerton Park, near Exeter, opening the Liberal land campaign (17 September 1925), quoted in The Times (18 September 1925), p. 14
Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons

Exercises, Dead

“The main purpose of most genes in the human genome is regulating the expression of other genes in the genome.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 10 “Stress” (p. 150)

“It was in the Second World War, then, that the full force of the modern European state was mobilized for the first time, for the primary purpose of conquering and exploiting other Europeans.”

Tony Judt (1948–2010) British historian

Chap. 1 : The Legacy of War
Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (2005)

War, World, Time

“I have never imputed to Nature a purpose or a goal, or anything that could be understood as anthropomorphic. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of "humility."”

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

This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.
Draft of a German reply to a letter sent to him in 1954 or 1955, p. 39
Attributed in posthumous publications, Albert Einstein: The Human Side (1979)

Feeling, Nature, Thinking, Personality

“My friends, all I'm trying to say is that if we are to go forward today, we've got to go back and rediscover some mighty precious values that we've left behind. That's the only way that we would be able to make of our world a better world, and to make of this world what God wants it to be and the real purpose and meaning of it.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1950s, Rediscovering Lost Values (1954)

God, World, Way

“Is it for this purpose that we are strong—that we may have light burdens to bear?”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXXVIII: On the Healing Power of the Mind

Light, Strong

“The use of destructive, noisy machinery for recreational purposes must become anathema to humans, as unthinkable as eating one’s young.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: The Margarets (2007), Chapter 14, “I Am Margaret/On Earth” (p. 114)

“I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong… I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell.”

Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American theoretical physicist

Source: Curious Character

Way, Feeling, Thinking, Universe

“Man is born to be happy and free, and everywhere he is enslaved and unhappy! Society exists for the purpose of conserving his rights and perfecting his being, and everywhere society degrades and oppresses him! The time has come to remind him of his true destiny.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Quoting Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Misc Quotes

Happiness, Time, Perfection

“When they are asked the question by a journalist, a country, a friend, an enemy or anybody, "What is the real purpose of the taliban movement?" the answer to them all is that the taliban's mission and purpose is to implement the sharia on this land of Allah. That is their answer, true purpose and their mission from the beginning.”

Mohammed Omar (1959–2013) Founder and former leader of the Taliban

Appeal to the ulama of Afghanistan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNAR3CZhUKo, 2 April 1996

Question, Country

“My main purpose is not about football or baseball, or anything like that. It’s about helping others. It’s about finding the people who need hope.”

Tim Tebow (1987) American football player, Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback

People, Hope, Help, Football

“The purpose of time is to enable you to learn how to use time constructively. It is thus a teaching device and a means to an end. Time will cease when it is no longer useful in facilitating learning.”

Helen Schucman book A Course in Miracles

A Course in Miracles, (1976)

Learning, Time

“It takes less effort to stream a film at home these days. However, streaming should not fundamentally affect how a film is made, as long as the pleasure of watching films doesn’t change, and we as filmmakers continue to serve that purpose.”

Wong Kar-wai (1958) Hong Kong screenwriter, film producer and film director

"5 Questions for Wong Kar Wai" in Notebook Feature (19 March 2021) https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/5-questions-for-wong-kar-wai

Pleasure, Home, Effort, Change

“Please, for the love of god, do not rush an unsafe vaccine for political purposes.”

Robert B. Reich (1946) American political economist

22 October 2020 https://twitter.com/rbreich/status/1319446608367415302

Love, God

“…It was very purposeful that I included animals that I’ve never touched, never looked into their eyes. We should be able to care for creatures outside of [our immediate vicinity]. We should be able to care about plants and animals and people that we’ve never seen before.”

Aimee Nezhukumatathil (1974) American writer

On not encountering every single animal mentioned in her book World of Wonders in “Aimee Nezhukumatathil: What a Wonderful World” https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/aimee-nezhukumatathil-world-of-wonders-interview/ in Kirkus Reviews (2020 Dec 2)

People, Animals

“A good place to start is with yourself. See if you can give yourself gifts that may be true blessings, such as self-acceptance, or some time each day with no purpose. Practice feeling deserving enough to accept these gifts without obligation—to simply receive from yourself, and from the universe.”

Jon Kabat-Zinn (1944) American academic

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (2005)

Feeling, Universe, Time

“Common sense is the great thing in all this. You eat what you find through a minimum requirement keeps your body healthy. Each individual and each group finds for itself the diet which suits its purposes, climate, tradition and background.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

Source: The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom (1980)

Sense

“No purpose is served by making private suffering into a public event.”

Charles Sheffield book Summertide

Source: The Heritage Universe, Summertide (1990), Chapter 23 (p. 254)

Suffering

“Men were born to die! Life has only one purpose: to understand the sense of your own misery.”

Menotti Lerro (1980) Italian poet

Donna Giovanna, Act IV, scene iii.

Life, Men, Understanding, Sense

“The Creator placed you in this world for a purpose and that purpose is to learn from experience and not relying too much upon the hearsays.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

World, Learning

“God knows the past, the present and the future. Therefore, He created angels, demons, and men mixed together for a specific purpose.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Men, God, Angels, Past

“Life is a neutral thing. It can be either meaningful or meaningless. You are the one who must give it a purpose.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Life

“Since there is no work left in heaven, the purpose of being here on Earth is to work.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“The purpose of meditation is not to calm the mind. It's all about controlling your thoughts and emotions. Familiarise yourself with good and evil, the shortest path to eternal wisdom.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Wisdom, Evil

“My motto is to always do your homework before any meeting or event, and to always dress for the occasion. Sometimes I say that it’s better to say nothing than to speak with no purpose!”

Brigitte Lin (1954) Taiwanese actress

As quoted in "Brigitte Lin on the Hong Kong Film Industry’s Golden Age" in Hong Kong Tatler (7 November 2012) https://hk.asiatatler.com/life/brigitte-lin-on-the-hong-kong-film-industry-s-golden-age

“I have not stopped wishing for the renewal of our former ties, for I believe that slight differences in procedure are not enough to destroy our common principles, purposes, and feelings.”

Marcelo H. del Pilar (1850–1896) Filipino writer, lawyer, and journalist (1850-1896)

Marcelo H. del Pilar to José Rizal (20 July 1892)

Feeling

“Life is like a bird. Whose purpose of life is only to keep flying in the open sky. Do not imprison him in the cage of your misery because he suffocates and he torments day and night in the cage. Release him to fly in the open sky because he has the courage to touch the heights of the sky. Imprisoned in a cage, he loses his confidence and forgets to fly.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

Life, Confidence, Courage, Bird

“What's the meaning of life?... what's the purpose? ...Is God cruel and hurts some families by killing babies... allowing other nasty families to grow old...?”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

The State of the World 2010, public lecture in New York City, USA, (July 2010)

Life, God, Family, Hurt

“In Black Magic, the Devil means the employment of the Grand Magical Agent for a wicked purpose by a perverted Will.”

Eliphas Levi (1810–1875) French writer

Miscellaneous Quotes On the Subjects of Magic and Magicians
Source: The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum, Eliphas Levi, Translated by W. Wynn Westcott, London, George Redway, 1896, p. 60.

“Warriors have an ulterior purpose for their acts, which has nothing to do with personal gain. The average man acts only if there is the chance for profit. Warriors act not for profit, but for the spirit.”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from "The Power of Silence" (Chapter 18)

Chance, Personality

“The "Master Mind" may be defined as: "Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose."”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Power of the Master Mind
Source: Think & Grow Rich, January 1963, p. 148.

People, Knowledge, Effort

“It will not be wise, however, to engage in a blind rat-race of consumption and production as if man is created for the sole purpose of consumption.”

Deendayal Upadhyaya (1916–1968) RSS thinker and co-founder of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh

Source: —Deendayal Upadhyaya, thinker and forerunner of the Bharatiya Janata Party quoted from Malhotra, R. (2021). Artificial intelligence and the future of power: 5 battlegrounds. New Delhi : Rupa, 2021.

“[W]hy presumes purpose... But what if there isn't purpose? Whenever we say why we really mean how.”

Lawrence M. Krauss book A Universe from Nothing

"Lawrence Krauss: A Universe from Nothing" (2031) <br class="br">Source: 11:05 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46sKeycH3bE&t=665s

“Rather will it be a public of inherently free individuals w'ho can keep an individual purpose, learnt in the fields of intense suffering and experience. Such a public are likely to accept and wield responsibility in respect of their own government and their own religion and education.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XXXV The Opportunity Today

Education, Religion, Suffering

“We can assume that a perfect world IS the ultimate goal for mankind and the purpose of God, for this has been promised to us in all religions.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter II Planning a Model World

God, World, Religion, Perfection

“[People].. would have become aware of the purpose and presence of God in every part of creation and in themselves, to such an extent that they would be incapable of separating ‘religion’ from science, education or government. The integration would have become complete.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter IV The Spiritual Cabinet

God, People, Education, Religion

“The war now proposed is for the purpose of establishing Jewish influence throughout the world.”

George Van Horn Moseley (1874–1960) United States Army general

Source: New York Tribune, 29 March 1939. See Silent Truth https://books.google.com.br/books?id=-bIAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT190&lpg=PT190 by Mark Edwards

War, World

“Warriors speak of shamanism as a magical, mysterious bird which has paused in its flight for a moment in order to give man hope and purpose; warriors live under the wind of that bird, which they call the "bird of wisdom," the "bird of freedom."”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from "The Power of Silence" (Chapter 18)

Wisdom, Hope, Bird, Freedom

“If I live for one purpose it is for this, that I will preach the union of Eastern and Western philosophy, the reconciliation of Europe and Asia. The idea may seem absurd to many in the present age. It may provoke ridicule and angry reviling. But posterity will prove a better judge.”

Max Müller (1823–1900) German-born philologist and orientalist

Source: quoted in Ibn, W. (2009). Defending the West: A critique of Edward Said's Orientalism. Amherst, N.Y: Prometheus Books.

Age, Idea

“Whatever you identify with is what you are. If you identify with the physical body, then to all intents and purposes you are the physical body. That traps the Self in the physical plane and causes all the illness — stomach aches, ulcers, and all the rest, of the physical body.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

Source: Maitreya's Mission Vol. III (1997) p. 606

“Ends and purposes, whether they exist as conscious or subconscious tendencies, form the wrap and woof of our conscious experience.”

Muhammad Iqbál (1877–1938) Urdu poet and leader of the Pakistan Movement

Source: The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Reconstruction_of_Religious_Thought/uCh14nl09jkC?hl=en (1930), p. 42

“Marriage -The scope and plan of this work will allow of but the briefest possible consideration of this subject upon which volumes have been written, much to no purpose other than the multiplication of books.”

John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943) American physician

Source: Plain Facts For Old and Young, p.124

Marriage, Books

“While jails and prisons have been dominant institutions for the control of men, mental institutions have served a similar purpose for women. That is, deviant men have been constructed as criminal, while deviant women have been constructed as insane.”

Angela Davis Are Prisons Obsolete?

Source: Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003), Chapter Four

Women, Men

“What is my ruling faculty now to me? and of what nature am I now making it? and for what purpose am I now using it? is it void of understanding? is it loosed and rent asunder from social life? is it melted and mixed with the poor flesh so as to move together with it?”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations (c. AD 121–180), Book X, 24

Life, Understanding, Nature

“Be yourself, you might not understand it, others might not understand it, but someday, your purpose will be enough.”

Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (1978) Nigerian actress and singer

Understanding

“The purpose of this book is exactly expressed in its title, “The Key to Theosophy,” and needs but few words of explanation. It is not a complete or exhaustive text-book of Theosophy, but only a key to unlock the door that leads to the deeper study.”

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky book The Key to Theosophy

Source: The Key to Theosophy (1889)

Books, Study

“To us, all life is a series of accidents to be met with improvisations. To them, all life is purposive and should be met with precalculation.”

Isaac Asimov book Second Foundation

Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Second Foundation (1953), Chapter 16 "Beginning of War"

Life

“What I really hoped for, no doubt, was to come upon one of those lives which begin nowhere, which lead us through marshes and salt flats, trickling away, seemingly without plan, purpose or goal, and suddenly emerge, gushing like geysers, and never cease gushing, even in death.”

Henry Miller book Nexus

Source: The Rosy Crucifixion III: Nexus (1960), Ch. 8, p. 129

Death, Hope

“For me it's important to make great dance songs, growing up as a dancer. You know, not only just getting lost in the beat but getting lost in the lyrics whether it’s about having a great time or having lyrics with more of a purposeful meaning.”

Victoria Duffield (1995) Canadian actor, singer and dancer

Source: Interview with Victoria Duffield http://www.liveinlimbo.com/2011/09/24/interviews/888-interview-victoria-duffield.html (24 September 2011)

Time, Dance

“Every animal has a particular purpose on the planet. We may not like some of those purposes, but they're all necessary for us to exist.”

Jack Hanna (1947) American zoologist

Source: Jack Hanna Interview: Inside the Mind and Heart of the Animal Kingdom's Best Friend https://smashinginterviews.com/interviews/newsmakers/jack-hanna-interview-inside-the-mind-and-heart-of-the-animal-kingdoms-best-friend (4 May 2014)

Animals

“Can any modern fox-hunter honestly say that his hunting is done with the legitimate object of getting rid of a noxious animal in the quickest way? It is nothing of the kind. It is plain that instead of men hunting with any object of getting rid of foxes, the fox exists simply for the purpose of being hunted. But for the practice of hunting, the fox would long ago have been as extinct in England as his cousin the wolf.”

Edward Augustus Freeman (1823–1892) English historian (1823-1892)

Source: 'The Morality of Field Sports', The Fortnightly Review (October 1869), quoted in E. A. Freeman, The Morality of Field Sports (1874), p. 18

Men, Way, Wolf, Animals

“I have lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you. I found purpose and meaning in your response. For an actor that is no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can't part with you, which is why I won't exclude you from this stage in my life.
For now, I'm not changing anything. I will insist on work when I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you will know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.”

Charlton Heston (1923–2008) American actor

Winning the Cultural War (1999), Video farewell (2002)

Life, Spring, Change, Loss

“[A]ttempting to organize and give structure to the study of legal silence has been a primary purpose of much of what I have written and taught over the past half-century.”

Laurence Tribe (1941) American lawyer and law school professor

Soundings and Silences (2016)

Study, Silence, Past

“If you want to live a purpose filled life, what better goal to guide your career is there than saving the planet?”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

Life

“Having a purpose puts you in control of your destiny.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

“Doth Nature draw me, 'tis because,
Unto my seeming, there doth lurk
A lawlessness about her laws,
More mood than purpose in her work.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: "Nature and the Book", stanza XV; p. 67, At the Gate of the Convent (1885)

Law, Mood, Nature, Drawing

“Breathing is really a very complex activity. It does not only consist of taking in air, absorbing oxygen from it and letting it out again as carbonic acid gas! The breathing has a tremendous effect on the character, determining the mood, courage, strength of purpose, health and inspiration from day to day.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Chapter XV The Essential Science of Breathing

Health, Mood, Courage

“We have room for the man with an honest dream,
With his heart on fire and his eyes agleam;
We have room for the man with a purpose true,
Who comes to our shores to start life anew,
But we haven't an inch of space for him
Who comes to plot against life and limb.
We have room for the man who will learn our ways,
Who will stand by our Flag in its troubled days;
We have room for the man who will till the soil,
Who will give his hands to a fair day's toil,
But we haven't an inch of space to spare
For the breeder of hatred and black despair.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: When Day is Done (1921), No Room for Hate, stanzas 1 and 2

Life, Dreams, Way, Learning

“My opinion is that the best law is an education of quality, that begins in the family, grows at school and finds in society a stimulus for the formation of people. We are greatly lacking in civic friendship, we look at one another as mad people and not as brethren or as people who share the same ideal, the same purpose.”

Ricardo Ezzati (1942) archbishop and cardinal

Source: Chile – Cardinal Ezzati: Reparation Eucharist https://www.infoans.org/en/sections/news/item/1167-chile-cardinal-ezzati-reparation-eucharist-at-gratitud-nacionain-this-l (13 June 2016)

Friendship, People, Education, School

“In every ideological or political movement, the two most important components play an important role: the idea and the person. Leading ideas and worldviews in the ideological movement and guiding program decisions in the political - create the "soul", the essence, the inner meaning of the movement. People who recognize, disseminate and implement ideas and programs and for that purpose take an active part in the movement - create its living, active organism.”

Stepan Bandera (1909–1959) Ukrainian anti-communist

Source: "Idea and Man in the Ideological Movement" (1954)

People, Soul, Idea, Decision

“[T]he Victorian Age... cared more for life than for thought; consequently it produced abundant and fine life, while its thought was comparatively unambitious and aimed mainly at serving the practical purposes of life. It cared intensely for morals and little for metaphysics; a good deal for religion and scarcely at all for theology... It had an immense faith, a faith in goodness, in duty, in the future of mankind.”

Gilbert Murray (1866–1957) Anglo-Australian scholar

1920s, The Ordeal of This Generation: The War, the League and the Future (1929)
Source: "The Civilization of the Nineteenth Century: Its Greatness and the Flaw which led to its Collapse", p. 51

Life, Age, Faith, Religion

“Atheists, or Deists only in the name,
By word or deed deny a God. They eat
Their daily bread, & draw the breath of heaven,
Without a thought or thanks; heav'n's roof to them
Is but a painted ceiling hung with lamps,
No more, that light them to their purposes.
They 'wander loose about.'”

Charles Lamb (1775–1834) English essayist

They nothing see,
Themselves except, and creatures like themselves,
That liv'd short-sighted, impotent to save.
So on their dissolute spirits, soon or late,
Destruction cometh 'like an armed man,'
Or like a dream of murder in the night,
Withering their mortal faculties, & breaking
The bones of all their pride.
Living Without God In The World (1798)

God, Light, Drawing, Painting

“The purpose of all the Church's activity is the salvation of souls. The Curia and other institutions are instruments that must be as flexible as possible in the Pope's and Bishops' hands, to take Christ to the ends of the world.”

Francesco Monterisi (1934) Italian cardinal

Cardinal Monterisi: Francis Is Awakening Fervor https://zenit.org/2013/04/24/cardinal-monterisi-francis-is-awakening-fervor/ (24 April 2013)

World, Soul, Christ

“Live with a definite purpose. Do not roam about aimlessly. Walk with a definite aim. Climb the hill of knowledge steadily and reach the summit of the temple of Brahman or the grand abode of Life Immortal.”

Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) Indian philosopher

Sayings of Swami Sivanada (1947)

Life, Knowledge

“Design in nature is but a concatenation of accidents, culled by natural selection until the result is so beautiful or effective as to seem a miracle of purpose.”

Michael Pollan book The Botany of Desire

Introduction “The Human Bumblebee” (p. xxi)
The Botany of Desire (2001)

Beauty, Nature

“The attitude that living things are placed here for our benefit still dominates our culture, even where its underpinnings have disappeared. We now need, for purposes of scientific understanding, to find a less human-centered view of the natural world.”

Richard Dawkins book Climbing Mount Improbable

Source: Climbing Mount Improbable (1996), Chapter 8, “Pollen Grains and Magic Bullets” (p. 258)

World, Understanding, Nature

“The A B C of any science of wealth production is the necessity of co-ordination and concert of effort; whereas competition, conflict, and endless cross-purposes were the sum and substance of the economic methods set forth by these writers.”

Edward Bellamy book Equality

Equality (1897)

Effort, Science, Wealth

“[I]f it's just you, attempting to come up with a "good idea" before defining your purpose, creating a vision, and collecting lots of bad ideas is likely to give you a case of creative constipation.”

David Allen book Getting Things Done

Source: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001), Ch. 3

Idea

“Dialogue for the sake of conversation serves no ethical, moral or practical purpose. Dialogue that is one way, or in which we are silent about our grave concerns about injustice, or where we end up kowtowing, appeasing or unwittingly complicit with evil, is immoral.”

Benedict Rogers (1974) London-based human rights activist

Vatican should talk to China — but not at any price https://www.ucanews.com/amp/vatican-should-talk-to-china-but-not-at-any-price/93985 (1 October 2021)

Way, Evil

“Every art, and every system, and in like manner every action and purpose aims, it is thought, at some good; for which reason a common and by no means a bad description of the good is, ‘that at which all things aim.’”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

Bk I, Ch I
The Ethics Of Aristotle (Vol. I)

Art

“You motivate us. You inspire us.
And you are the voice of so many people who are in this room because of the voice that you express around these issues.
And so I thank you for that and your strength and your sense of purpose.”

Kamala Harris (1964) United States Senator from California

2022, June 2022, Remarks by Vice President Harris Announcing the Launch of the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse

People, Motivation, Sense

“You conceive of science as nothing more than answers to questions?
As a system for generating answers.
And what is the purpose of that?
...To know.
And what will you do with your knowledge?
...Find out more.
But why?
I don’t know. It’s the way I am.”

Kim Stanley Robinson book Green Mars

Source: Green Mars (1993), Chapter 8, “Social Engineering” (p. 401)

Way, Question, Knowledge, Science

“It was a mistake to speak one’s mind at any time, unless it perfectly matched your political purpose; and it never did. Best to strip all statements of real content, this was a basic law of diplomacy.”

Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer

Source: Red Mars (1992), Chapter 6, “Guns Under the Table” (p. 418)

Law, Time

“(Finding your place)"At first it was my passion, but now it is my purpose. "
-Engr. Abah Sule-”

Engr.Abah Sule

Passion

“This is the threat to our lives. We all face it. We all operate in our society in relation to a system. Now is the system going to eat you up and relieve you of your humanity or are you going to be able to use the system to human purposes? … If the person doesn't listen to the demands of his own spiritual and heart life and insists on a certain program, you're going to have a schizophrenic crack-up. The person has put himself off center. He has aligned himself with a programmatic life and it's not the one the body's interested in at all. And the world's full of people who have stopped listening to themselves.”

Joseph Campbell The Power of Myth

Episode 1, Chapter 12
The Power of Myth (1988)

Life, People, World, Heart

“MY PURPOSE " If i didn't take the risk at the process the risk will take me. " -Engr. Abah Sule”

Engr.Abah Sule

“Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again.”

William Paul Young book The Shack

Source: The Shack

Life, World, Forgiveness, Universe

“The purpose of life is to live meaningfully, productively, and emotionally–saturate. In other words, to live fully.”

Zafar Mirzo (1972)

Life

“When it’s all set and done the purpose of life is to live the best way we can. We all make mistakes and should definitely learn from them.”

N3du

Life, Way, Learning

“There’s always this question in every growing consciousness, what is the purpose of life and what are our roles in it. When you focus on this question for a while the answers somehow present itself to you, you’d realise that we are searching for something which we don’t know what it really is or where to actually get it.
At the end of the search you’d realise that everything you’re searching for is already within you and you’ve been searching for yourself. So it’s safe to say the purpose of life is self realisation and unfoldment.”

N3du

Life, Search, Question

“WHAT BROUGHT MY POSSESSION INTO EXISTENCE -My Greatest Discovery " When I was 12, i discovered that i it was only my external self that was existing alone, when I became 14, i realized that they were two of me that have been existing since before my first discovery. That was my passion, now my purpose second discovery, at that point they were a lot of options and alternative to choose, then i first go, not just for the easiest, but for the most easiest for my possession. ( that's why little mistakes are far from me ). -Engr. Abah Sule”

“The primary duty of humanity is a complex and philosophical question that has been debated for centuries. Some people believe that our duty is to serve a higher power or divine purpose, while others argue that our duty is to promote the well-being and happiness of all individuals in society. Ultimately, the answer depends on one's personal beliefs and values. However, it can be said that the core of our duty as human beings is to strive for a better world, one that promotes compassion, empathy and respect for all living beings. It is our responsibility to work towards a society where everyone has access to the basic necessities of life, where we protect the environment, and where we strive to understand and appreciate the diversity of our fellow human beings.

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Titon Rahmawan

Life, Happiness, People, World

“A good education is oriented towards building motivation, broadening horizons and knowledge, sharpening logic and reasoning, honing sensitivity, caring and empathy. A good education provides direction and purpose in life and the ability to find solutions to real problems.”

Titon Rahmawan

Life, Education, Motivation, Knowledge

“Learning to be wise has a deeper purpose than just learning to be smart. To become wise, we must learn to understand and master things we do not know. Learn from the mistakes we make ourselves. Learn from the mistakes other people make, and find out how other people achieved success.”

Titon Rahmawan

People, Understanding, Learning, Success

This quote waiting for review.

“Learn what is the soul's desire, and go with that. Go with the soul. What the soul is after is - the highest feeling of love you can imagine. This is the soul's desire. This is its purpose.”

Neale Donald Walsch (1943) American writer

Love, Feeling, Soul, Imagination

This quote waiting for review.

“School does not have to function like a business: its purpose is different.”

José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor

Source: Cuando la escuela dejó de pensar. By José Baroja. (2026b, mayo 25). Le Monde Diplomatique. https://www.lemondediplomatique.cl/cuando-la-escuela-dejo-de-pensar-por-jose-baroja.html

School, Business

Quotes about purpose page 31

Quotes about purpose
page 31