I think I’ve discovered the secret of life — you just hang around until you get used to it.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from.
—Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926-2004) American Psychiatrist
There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life.
—Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American Educationist
The theory that can absorb the greatest number of facts, and persist in doing so, generation after generation through all changes of opinion and detail, is the one that must rule all observation.
—John Weiss (1818–79) American Author, Clergyman, Abolitionist
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Each person is born to one possession which outvalues all his others — his last breath.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
The goal is the same: life itself; and the price is the same; life itself.
—James Agee (1909–55) American Author, Journalist, Poet, Screenwriter, Film Critic
Life … tends to respond to our outlook, to shape itself to meet our expectations.
—Richard DeVos (1926–2018) American Businessman, Philanthropist
Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
While we least think it he prepares his mate. Mate, and the kings pawn played, it never ceases, though all the earth is dust of taken pieces.
—John Masefield (1878–1967) English Poet, Novelist, Playwright
It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn’t a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is a sin
—Benjamin Mays (1894–1984) American Minister, Educator, Scholar, Social Activist
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet
The joy of life consists in the exercise of one’s energies, continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of every new experience. To stop means simply to die. The eternal mistake of mankind is to set up an attainable ideal.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly.
—Andy Warhol (1928–87) American Painter, Printmaker, Film Personality
If you can tell me who your heroes are, I can tell you how you’re going to turn out in life.
—Warren Buffett (b.1930) American Investor
If a man for whatever reason has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.
—Jacques Cousteau (1910–97) French Military Leader, Explore, Ecologist, Scientist, Photographer
To the psychotherapist an old man who cannot bid farewell to life appears as feeble and sickly as a young man who is unable to embrace it.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
There is only one purpose for all of life, and that is for you and all that lives to experience fullest glory…everything else you say, think, or do is attendant to that function. There is nothing else for your soul to do, and nothing else your soul wants to do.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
A good man doubles the length of his existence; to have lived so as to look back with pleasure on our past life is to live twice.
—Martial (40–104) Ancient Roman Latin Poet
Start thinking about yourself as a lifetime student at a large university. Your curriculum is your total relationship with the world you live in, from the moment you’re born to the moment you die.
—Susan Jeffers
We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.
—Che Guevara (1928–67) Argentinean Political leader, Diplomat, Physician, Author
Life is a horizontal fall.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Playwright, Artist
Thank you, God, for bringing me success in my life.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot…And I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely…Why I succeed.
—Michael Jordan (b.1963) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
Ours is a culture based on excess, on overproduction; the result is a steady loss of sharpness in our sensory experience. All the conditions of modern life — its material plenitude, its sheer crowdedness — conjoin to dull our sensory faculties.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Frozen in fear, you avoid responsibility because you think your experience is beyond your control. This stance keeps you from making decisions, solving problems, or going after what you want in life.
—David Emerald
Life is made up of constant calls to action, and we seldom have time for more than hastily contrived answers.
—Learned Hand
Serenity of spirit and turbulence of action should make up the sum of a man’s life.
—Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962) English Gardener, Author, Poet
He who has nothing to die for has nothing to live for.
—Moroccan Proverb
You haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability–to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. He that labors in any great or laudable undertaking has his fatigues first supported by hope and afterward rewarded by joy.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master. I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living. I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs. I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order. I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character-not wealth or power or position-is of supreme worth. I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free. I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual’s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will. I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.
—John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874–1960) American Philanthropist, Businessperson
If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.
If you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
—Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie (1837–1919) English Novelist, Biographer
We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist, Author
I think every person should be able to enjoy life. Try to decide what you most enjoy doing, and then look around to see if there is a job for which you could prepare yourself that would enable you to continue having this sort of joy.
—Linus Pauling (1901–94) American Scientist, Peace Activist
Maxim for life: You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.
—Wayne Dyer (b.1940) American Motivational Writer, Author, Motivational Speaker
And life is what we make it. Always has been, always will be.
—Grandma Moses (1860–1961) American Painter, Artist
The most important preliminary to the task of arranging one’s life so that one may live fully and comfortably within one’s daily budget of 24 hours is the calm realization of the extreme difficulty of the task, of the sacrifices and the endless effort which it demands.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist
We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure—all your life.
—John W. Gardner (1912–2002) American Government Official, Political leader
Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.
—Samuel Lover (1797–1868) Irish Songwriter, Novelist, Painter
While there’s life, there’s hope.
—Common Proverb
Life is ever giving of Itself. We must receive, utilize and extend the gift. Success and prosperity are spiritual attributes belonging to all people.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another, without helping himself.
—Gamaliel Bailey
It is reported that more than 90% of what we worry about never happens. That means that our negative worries have less than a 10% chance of being correct. If this is so, isn’t being positive more realistic than being negative? Think about your own life. I’ll wager that most of what you worry about never happens. So are you being realistic when you worry all the time? No!
—Susan Jeffers
People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
Take Time
Take time to work … it is the price of success.
Take time to think … it is the source of power.
Take time to play, … it is the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to read, … it is the foundation of wisdom.
Take time to be friendly, … it is the road to happiness.
Take time to dream, … it is hitching your wagon to a star.
Take time to love & be loved, … it is the privilege of the Gods.
Take time to look around … it is too short a day to be selfish.
Take time to laugh … it is the music of the soul.
—English Prayer
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy; I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Not on one strand are all life’s jewels strung.
—William Morris (1834–96) British Designer, Craftsman, Poet, Writer
The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
The desire not to be anything is the desire not to be.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher, Playwright, Screenwriter
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
Life’s splendor forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
A total immersion in life offers the best classroom for learning to love.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
The world is a grindstone and life is your nose.
—Fred Allen (1894–1956) American Humorist, Radio Personality
Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it.
—Danny Kaye (1913–87) American Actor, Singer, Comedian
Perhaps we are looking at this from a wrong perspective; this search for the truth, the meaning of life, the reason of God. We all have this mindset that the answers are so complex and so vast that it is almost impossible to comprehend. I think, on the contrary, that the answers are so simple; so simple that it is staring us straight in the face, screaming its lungs out, and yet we fail to notice it. We’re looking through a telescope, searching the stars for the answer, when the answer is actually a speck of dirt on the telescope lens.
—Unknown
Every creatures stalks some other, and catches it, and is caught.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Life’s irony is that as soon as worldly goods and worldly success are of no concern to you, the way is open for them to flow to you.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
If there is something you choose to experience in your life, do not “want” it—choose it.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
A man watches his pear tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe fruit at length falls into his lap.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
—Randy Pausch (1960–2008) American Academic, Author
Every man’s life is a fairy tale, written by God’s fingers.
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
Don’t be like the preacher who thought about praying while making love with his life and thought about love while praying.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
All meaningful and lasting change starts first in your imagination and then works its way out. Imagination is more important than knowledge. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The rewards are profound. Shadow-work enables us to alter our self-sabotaging behavior so that we can achieve a more self-directed life.
—Connie Zweig American Minister, Columnist, Psychotherapist
You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life you have known yourself to be these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to any circumstances.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it. I call this the freedom multiplier.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Life is like a beautiful and winding lane, on either side bright flowers, beautiful butterflies, and tempting fruits, which we scarcely pause to admire and taste, so eager are we to hasten to an opening which we imagine will be more beautiful still. But by degrees, as we advance, the trees grow bleak, the flowers and butterflies fail, the fruits disappear, and we find we have arrived — to reach a desert waste.
—George Augustus Henry Sala (1828–95) British Journalist
My life has a superb cast but I can’t figure out the plot.
—Ashleigh Brilliant (b.1933) British Cartoonist, Author
People find it hard to be both comic and serious, though life manages it easily enough.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Unbeing dead isn’t being alive.
—e. e. cummings (1894–1962) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Artist
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread.
—A. A. Milne (1882–1956) English Children’s Books Writer, Writer
There is no security in life, only opportunity.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
Life is too short for theatrics, for face time, for jumping through hoops, for excuses, for blaming, for trying too hard to please others, or for chasing society’s illusion of distant riches or fame.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Fortune leaves always some door open to come at a remedy.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Life is an incurable Disease.
—Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet
The falling drops at last will wear the stone.
—Lucretius Roman Poet, Philosopher
Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
Common sense does not ask an impossible chessboard, but takes the one before it and plays the game.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Social Activist, Lawyer, Orator
What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Life is so largely controlled by chance that its conduct can be but a perpetual improvisation.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
The tragedy of life is not that man loses,
but that he almost wins.
—Heywood Hale Broun (1918–2001) American Journalist, Commentator, Actor
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is a law, and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
It is done to you as you believe.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
In small proportions we just beauties see,
And in short measures life may perfect be.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
No man needs sympathy because he has to work. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
As a peaceful warrior, I would choose when, where and how I would behave. With that commitment, I began to live the life of a warrior.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
Someday, in the moment of death, your whole life will pass before you. In a few fractions of a second–because time no longer applies–you will see many incidents from your life in order to learn. You will review your life with two questions in your consciousness: Could I have shown a little more courage in these moments? Could I have shown a little more love? You will see where you let fear stop you from expressing who you are, how you feel, or what you need. You will see whether you were able to expand into these moments, just a little, to show love, or whether you contracted.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.
—Common Proverb
The experiences of camp life show that a man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even in the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to life.
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined! As you simplify your life, the laws of the Universe will be simpler, solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.
—Diane Ackerman (b.1948) American Children’s Books Writer, Author, Poet, Naturalist
My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.
—Cary Grant (1904–86) British-American Film Actor
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
—Unknown
If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Life is a sexually transmitted disease and there is a 100% mortality rate.
—R. D. Laing (1927–89) Scottish Psychiatrist
You’re not living until it doesn’t matter a tinker’s damn to you whether you live or die. At that point you live. When you’re ready to lose your life, you live it.
—Anthony de Mello (1931–87) Indian-born American Theologian
Don’t wait until you die to learn the warrior’s way. Do it now, each night, just before you drift off to sleep. As you review your day, consider these two questions of courage and love. Learn from each day, so that each day you can show a little more courage and a little more love. Then, as incidents occur, you may rise to the occasion and look back at the end of your life and feel good about the way you lived.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
Commerce is a game of skill, which every man cannot play, which few men can play well. The right merchant is one who has the just average of faculties we call commonsense; a man of strong affinity for facts, who makes up his decision on what he has seen. He is thoroughly persuaded of the truths of arithmetic. There is always a reason, in the man, for his good or bad fortune; and so, in making money. Men talk as if there were some magic about this, and believe in magic, in all parts of life. He knows that all goes on the old road, pound for pound, cent for cent-for every effect a perfect cause-and that good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.
—William Watson Purkey
Life is a comedy for those who think… and a tragedy for those who feel.
—Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford
Man ought to know that in the theater of human life, it is only for Gods and angels to be spectators.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. The last is much the worst; the last is a real tragedy!
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet
I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure of anything, and many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here, and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit, but if I can’t figure it out, then I go on to something else. But I don’t have to know an answer…. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn’t frighten me.
—Richard Feynman (1918–88) American Physicist
Life is a long lesson in humility.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist, Author
I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
A man’s life is interesting primarily when he has failed, I well know. For it’s a sign that he tried to surpass himself.
—Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French Head of State, Physician, Publisher, Political leader
Confidence … is directness and courage in meeting the facts of life.
—John Dewey (1859–1952) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Educator
It matters not how long you live, but how well.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
God writes a lot of comedy… the trouble is, he’s stuck with so many bad actors who don’t know how to play funny.
—Garrison Keillor (b.1942) American Author, Humorist, Radio Personality
If you look at your life one way, there is always cause for alarm.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short Story Writer
While we are postponing, life speeds by.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) Roman Philosopher, Political leader, Dramatist
Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) Hong-Kong-born American Sportsperson, Actor, Philosopher, Film Director, Screenwriter
When you cling, life is destroyed; when you hold on to anything, you cease to live.
—Anthony de Mello (1931–87) Indian-born American Theologian
If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
A great part of life consists in contemplating what we cannot cure.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
A man’s life is interesting primarily when he has failed — I well know. For it’s a sign that he tried to surpass himself.
—Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French Head of State, Physician, Publisher, Political leader
I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.
—Jim Carrey (b.1962) Canadian Actor, Comedian
There is only one difference between a long life and a good dinner: that, in the dinner, the sweets come last.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other, and thus makes him necessary to society.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
—Marie Curie (1867–1934) Polish-born French Physicist, Chemist
Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is…The only problem in your life is your mind’s resistance to life as it unfolds.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
Situated in some nebulous distance I do what I do so that the universal balance of which I am a part may remain a balance.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
There are in life as many aspects as attitudes towards it; and aspects change with attitudes… Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a change in attitude.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
The history of man for the nine months preceding his birth would, probably, be far more interesting and contain events of greater moment than all the three score and ten years that follow it.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
In life, as in restaurants, we swallow a lot of indigestible stuff just because it comes with the dinner.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
The affairs of life embrace a multitude of interests, and he who reasons in any one of them, without consulting the rest, is a visionary unsuited to control the business of the world.
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) American Novelist
Many of us are equal to life’s emergencies who cannot bear its day-after-dayness.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
There are three stages in a person’s life, birth, their life and death. They are not conscious of birth submit to death and forget to live.
—Jean de La Bruyere
Life is like sailing. You can use any wind to go in any direction.
—Robert Brault
Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Sooner or later, a man, if he is wise, discovers that life is a mixture of good days and bad, victory and defeat, give and take.
—Wilferd Arlan Peterson (1900–95) American Author
Fortune is a prize to be won. Adventure is the road to it. Chance is what may lurk in the shadows at the roadside.
—O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) (1862–1910) American Writer of Short Stories
In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.
—Henri Nouwen (1932–96) Dutch Catholic Priest, Writer, Theologian
Few of us write great novels; all of us live them.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow. I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Indian Hindu Polymath
No man lives without jostling and being jostled; in all ways he has to elbow himself through the world, giving and receiving offense.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
If our life is unhappy it is painful to bear; if it is happy it is horrible to lose. So the one is pretty equal to the other.
—Jean de La Bruyere
We do not know what to do with this short life, but we want another that will be eternal.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
Life, as it is called, is for most of us one long postponement.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist, Painter
If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Life is like riding a bicycle. You don’t fall off unless you stop pedaling.
—Claude Pepper (1900–89) American Politician
If you stop struggling, then you stop life.
—Huey P. Newton (1942–89) American Political Activist
Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of man. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
I would not give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.
—Unknown
And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
I saw that we’re all doing the best we can. This is how a lifetime of humility begins.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
—Norman MacEwen British Military Leader
When I hear somebody sigh that “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?”
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Journalist, Columnist, Drama Critic
We live in deeds, not years:
In thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
Unconscious of your story, you are in its grasp; but with consciousness, an alchemical process begins: The solidity of the complex dissolves and you can open up to the arrival of a new archetype, the birth of a new cycle of life. In the shadow, then, lies our myth and our fate.
—Connie Zweig American Minister, Columnist, Psychotherapist
A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the “why” for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any “how”.
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
I count life just a stuff to try the soul’s strength on.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
The secret of the man who is universally interesting is that he is universally interested.
—William Dean Howells (1837–1920) American Novelist, Short story Author, Editor
Each person must live their life as a model for others.
—Rosa Parks (1913–2005) American Civil Rights Leader
It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.
—Anais Nin (1903–77) French-American Essayist
He who binds to himself a joy
Doth the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
The only way to have a life is to commit to it like crazy.
—Angelina Jolie (b.1975) American Actor, Humanitarian
We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
We talk to ourselves incessantly about our world. In fact we maintain our world with our internal talk. And whenever we finish talking to ourselves about ourselves and our world, the world is always as it should be. We renew it, we rekindle it with life, we uphold it with our internal talk. Not only that, but we also choose our paths as we talk to ourselves. Thus we repeat the same choices over and over until the day we die, because we keep on repeating the same internal talk over and over until the day we die. A warrior is aware of this and strives to stop his internal talk.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Life is pure adventure and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
If you have a big problem in your life, all that means is that you are being a small person!
—T. Harv Eker American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Life is much too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet
Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
We are like people with short-term leases on summer cottages; we can never seem to make our provisions come out even with our stay.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.
—Stephen Vincent Benet (1898–1943) American Poet
When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.
—George Washington Carver (1864–1943) American Scientist, Botanist, Educator, Inventor
Life is little more than a loan shark: It exacts a high rate of interest for the few pleasures it concedes.
—Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936) Italian Dramatist, Novelist, Short Story Writer, Author
No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
Work to connect yourself to the “allness” of life — instead of identifying with the smallness of it — and you’ll awaken to a greatness already living within you that is no more bothered by the little things in life than a mountain is made miserable by the rain that falls upon it.
—Guy Finley
They that have lived a single day have lived an age.
—Jean de La Bruyere
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.
—Unknown
Most of us spend our lives as if we had another one in the bank.
—Unknown
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.
—Ben Stein (b.1944) American Lawyer, Writer, Economist, Humorist
Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God’s Paradise.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
With most men life is like backgammon — half skill and half luck.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Life may have no meaning. Or even worse, it may have a meaning of which I disapprove.
—Ashleigh Brilliant (b.1933) British Cartoonist, Author
The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.
—Ben Stein (b.1944) American Lawyer, Writer, Economist, Humorist
Life is a mixed blessing, which we vainly try to unmix.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Life is activity, hence the deep-seated objections to negations.
—James Truslow Adams (1878–1949) American Historian, Writer
One should absorb the color of life, but one should never remember its details.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet
Life is the sum of all your choices.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.
—Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) American Novelist
It may be true that the unexamined life is not worth living — but neither is the unlived life worth examining.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
The great epochs of our life come when we gain the courage to rechristen our evil as what is best in us.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Life is a passing shadow, says the Scripture. Is it the shadow of a tower or a tree? A shadow that prevails for a while? No; it is the shadow of a bird in his flight — away flies the bird and there is neither bird nor shadow.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.
—William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author
If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people’s lives that you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.
—Harold Kushner (b.1935) American Jewish Religious Leader, Priest
Whatever results you’re getting, be they rich or poor, good or bad, positive or negative, always remember that your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world. If things aren’t going well in your outer life, it’s because things aren’t going well in your inner life. It’s that simple.
—T. Harv Eker American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
A state of expectancy is a great assetl; a state of uncertainty–one moment thinking “perhaps” and the next moment thinking “I don’t know”–will never get desired results.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
The less routine the more life.
—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
The man who is aware of himself is henceforward independent; and he is never bored, and life is only too short, and he is steeped through and through with a profound yet temperate happiness.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
To know that which lies before us in daily life is the prime wisdom.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
Don’t take life too serious. You’ll never escape it alive anyway.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you’re alive, it isn’t.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
By the time we hit fifty, we have learned our hardest lessons. We have found out that only a few things are really important. We have learned to take life seriously, but never ourselves.
—Marie Dressler
Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.
—Jane Austen (1775–1817) English Novelist
Simplicity has power. Founding our life on constructive, positive behavior is the simplest, most direct, and powerful approach I’ve ever found—simple, but not easy.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.
—Alan Ashley-Pitt (Francis Phillip Wernig) American Writer, Aphorist
Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases, though not often.
—Samuel Butler
I am master of my own destiny, and I can make my life anything that I wish it to be.
—Roger McDonald (b.1941) Australian Novelist, Poet, Screenwriter, Writer
True masters are those who have chosen to make a life, rather than a living.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Since we had nothing to do with our arrival and usually are not consulted about our departure, what makes so many of us think we’re entitled to so much while we’re here?
—Malcolm Forbes (1919–90) American Publisher
The influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of immortality.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American Head of State, Lawyer
I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Diplomat, Educator, Public Administrator
Puritans will never believe it, but life is full of disagreeable things that aren’t even good for you.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: “I’m with you kid. Let’s go.”
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. We pardon to the extent that we love. Love is knowing that even when you are alone, you will never be lonely again. & great happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. Loved for ourselves. & even loved in spite of ourselves.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
This is the true joy in life: Being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright