Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotations on Living

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 Poet, Essayist, Naturalist

We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.
Jimmy Carter (b.1924) American Head of State, Military Leader

Myth is an attempt to narrate a whole human experience, of which the purpose is too deep, going too deep in the blood and soul, for mental explanation or description.
D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic

Life is like playing the violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
Samuel Butler

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

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.
Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.
Gail Sheehy (1936–2020) American Writer, Journalist

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
Jack London (1876–1916) American Novelist

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them … work, family, health, friends and spirit, and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls … family, health, friends and spirit … are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same.
Indian Proverb

Life is too short to be little. You must enlarge your imagination and then act on it.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat

The less routine the more life.
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher

Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.
Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.
William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist

While there’s life, there’s hope.
Common Proverb

We only live once, but once is enough if we do it right. Live your life with class, dignity, and style so that an exclamation, rather than a question mark signifies it!
Gary Ryan Blair

Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Robert Fulghum (b.1937) American Unitarian Universalist Author, Essayist, Clergyman

The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body.
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher

Men, for the sake of getting a living forget to live.
Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary

All of the animals except for man know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it.
Samuel Butler

Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.
Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters

Any idiot can face a crisis—it’s the day to day living that wears you out.
Unknown

Man – despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments – owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.
Unknown

Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.
Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American Novelist, Short-story Writer

Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend…when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.
Sarah Ban Breathnach (b.1947) American Self-help Author

Purity of personal life is the one indispensable condition for building up a sound education.
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader

Live your life as an exclamation—not an explanation.
Anonymous

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian

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

Four Lessons on Life 1. Never take down a fence until you know why it was put up. 2. If you get too far ahead of the army, your soldiers may mistake you for the enemy. 3. Don’t complain about the bottom rungs of the ladder; they helped to get you higher. 4. If you want to enjoy the rainbow, be prepared to endure the storm.
Warren W. Wiersbe (1929–2019) American Pastor, Biblical Scholar

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