The influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of immortality.
—John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) Sixth President of the USA
Nothing can be meaner than the anxiety to live on, to live on anyhow and in any shape; a spirit with any honor is not willing to live except in its own way, and a spirit with any wisdom is not over-eager to live at all.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
He lives long that lives well; and time misspent is not lived, but lost. God is better than his promise if he takes from him a long lease, and gives him a free hold of a better value.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.
—Samuel Lover (1797–1868) Anglo-Irish Writer, Artist, Songwriter
Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
Decide upon your major definite purpose in life and then organize all your activities around it.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
To know that which lies before us in daily life is the prime wisdom.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Live with passion!
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Life is a sexually transmitted disease and there is a 100% mortality rate.
—R. D. Laing (1927–89) Scottish Psychiatrist
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
People with a high level of personal mastery are able to consistently realize the results that matter most deeply to them—in effect, they approach their life as an artist would approach a work of art. The do that by becoming committed to their own lifelong learning.
—Peter Senge (b.1947) American Management Consultant, Author, Scientist
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
—Charles Mackay (1814–89) Scottish Poet, Journalist, Songwriter
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 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
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 riding a bicycle. You don’t fall off unless you stop pedaling.
—Claude Pepper (1900–89) American Politician
What’s the most exceptional thing you’ve done this week? What’s the most exceptional thing you will do next week?
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
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
What difference does it make, after all, what your position in life is if you dislike it yourself?
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
As we struggle to make sense of things, life looks on in repose.
—Unknown
People find it hard to be both comic and serious, though life manages it easily enough.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
For I have known them all already, know them all: have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons; I have measured out my life with coffee spoons … .
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
The main of life is composed of small incidents and petty occurrences; of wishes for objects not remote, and grief for disappointments of no fatal consequence. … .
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Life is made up of constant calls to action, and we seldom have time for more than hastily contrived answers.
—Learned Hand (1872–1961) American Judge, Judicial Philosopher
This miserable state is borne by the wretched souls of those who lived without disgrace and without praise.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
Were you to live three thousand years, or even thirty thousand, remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment; and furthermore, that he can have no other life except the one he loses …
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Life has its own hidden forces which you can only discover by living.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Your life is a kind of laboratory where you’re constantly experimenting with your own higher knowing, always increasing your capacity to design the life you choose. Human beings must create; it’s hardwired. The question is, are you consciously creating or only sleepwalking through your human life?
—David Emerald
There is a life that is worth living now as it was worth living in the former days, and that is the honest life, the useful life, the unselfish life, cleansed by devotion to an ideal. There is a battle worth fighting now as it was worth fighting then, and that is the battle for justice and equality: to make our city and our state free in fact as well as in name; to break the rings that strangle real liberty, and to keep them broken; to cleanse, so far as in our power lies, the fountains of our national life from political, commercial, and social corruption; to teach our sons and daughters, by precept and example, the honor of serving such a country as America. That is work worthy of the finest manhood and womanhood.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
Life too near paralyses art.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What is life, but a series of inspired follies?
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
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
When compiling his great dictionary, the young Noah Webster travels to the Himalayas, where he climbs to the cave of the world’s wisest man. “O, great sage,” he says, “tell me the meaning of life”. The sage sits Noah at his feet and, with great solemnity, commences to unfold the meaning of life. When finished, he places a hand on the young man’s shoulder and says, “Do you have any other questions, my son?” Noah flips a page in his notebook and says, “You wouldn’t know the meaning of lift, would you?”
—Robert Brault
The powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. Everyday life has become my prayer.
—Sarah Ban Breathnach (b.1947) 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
What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.
—Colette (1873–1954) French Novelist, Performer
Life … tends to respond to our outlook, to shape itself to meet our expectations.
—Richard DeVos (1926–2018) American Businessman, Philanthropist
If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Author, Philologist
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
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
Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.
—Jane Austen (1775–1817) English Novelist
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
It is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life; ’tis rather an embrio state, a preparation for living; a man is not completely born until he be dead: Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals?
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I am talking about the power within the self. This means power over your perceptions of the world, power over how you react to situations in your life, power to do what is necessary for your own self-growth, power to create joy and satisfaction in your life, power to act, and power to love.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
When we let someone be who they are without trying to change them, that is giving away love. When we trust that someone can handle his or her own life, and act accordingly, that is giving away love.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author