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, Lawyer, Politician
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
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
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
Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: “I’m with you kid. Let’s go.”
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) African-American Poet, Author, Civil Rights Activist
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
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, Civil Rights Activist, Politician
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
There is no security in life, only opportunity.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
Life is a horizontal fall.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Playwright, Artist
Life is much too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Dramatist, Short Story Writer, Journalist, Writer
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
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
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
I count life just a stuff to try the soul’s strength on.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet, Playwright
In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
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, Novelist, Poet, Essayist, Philosopher
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
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
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
Thank you, God, for bringing me success in my life.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Unbeing dead isn’t being alive.
—E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, 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
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
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
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
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
One should absorb the color of life, but one should never remember its details.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Dramatist, Short Story Writer, Journalist, Writer
Most of us spend our lives as if
we had another one in the bank.
—Ben Irwin
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
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)
Life is like sailing. You can use any wind to go in any direction.
—Robert Brault
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
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
Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.
—Samuel Lover (1797–1868) Irish Songwriter, Novelist, Painter
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
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
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, Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
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
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
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
There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) African-American Poet, Author, Civil Rights Activist
The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved—loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Essayist
Life is activity, hence the deep-seated objections to negations.
—James Truslow Adams (1878–1949) American Historian, Writer
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
If you look at your life one way, there is always cause for alarm.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short Story Writer
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
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
The world is a grindstone and life is your nose.
—Fred Allen (1894–1956) American Humorist, Radio Personality
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 Zealander Short story
The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Every man is born to one possession which outvalues all his others-his last breath.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist, Satirist, Short Story Writer, Author, Lecturer
Life is like riding a bicycle. You don’t fall off unless you stop pedalling.
—Claude Pepper (1900–89)
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
Life may have no meaning. Or even worse, it may have a meaning of which I disapprove.
—Ashleigh Brilliant (b.1933) British Cartoonist, Author
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.1968)
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, Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
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
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 a sexually transmitted disease and there is a 100% mortality rate.
—R. D. Laing (1927–89) Scottish Psychiatrist
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
It is done to you as you believe.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
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 Writer, Essayist, Historian
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
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
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
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
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
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 life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Civil Rights Activist, Politician
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
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
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
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) America Architect, Writer, Educator
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
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
Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
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
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
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
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
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 Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
They that have lived a single day have lived an age.
—Jean de La Bruyere
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
Each person must live their life as a model for others.
—Rosa Parks (1913–2005) American Civil Rights Leader
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
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)
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
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 falling drops at last will wear the stone.
—Lucretius Roman Poet, Philosopher
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
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
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, Biographer, Poet, Writer, Literary Critic
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
My life has a superb cast but I can’t figure out the plot.
—Ashleigh Brilliant (b.1933) British Cartoonist, Author
Life … tends to respond to our outlook, to shape itself to meet our expectations.
—Richard DeVos (b.1926) American Businessperson
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
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
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
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
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
The less routine the more life.
—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
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, Poet, Short Story Writer, Author
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
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
—Randy Pausch (1960–2008) American Academic, Author
Few of us write great novels; all of us live them.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
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
Every man’s life is a fairy tale, written by God’s fingers.
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
The tragedy of life is not that a man loses, but that he almost wins.
—Heywood Broun (1888–1939) American Journalist, Editor
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 Antoninus Augustus (121–80)
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
Life is an incurable Disease.
—Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet
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
True masters are those who have chosen to make a life, rather than a living.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Not on one strand are all life’s jewels strung.
—William Morris (1834–96) English Textile Designer, Artist, Socialist, Writer