Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: if you’re alive, it isn’t.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
Life has a meaning only if one barters it day by day for something other than itself.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Avoid fragmentation: Find your focus and seek simplicity. Purposeful living calls for elegant efficiency and economy of effort—expanding the minimum time and energy necessary to achieve desired goals.
—Dan Millman (b.1946) American Children’s Books Writer, Sportsperson
A man with a half volition goes backwards and forwards, and makes no way on the smoothest road; a man with a whole volition advances on the roughest, and will reach his purpose, if there be even a little worthiness in it. The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder – a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life and having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Everything—a horse, a vine—is created for some duty…For what task, then, were you yourself created? A man’s true delight is to do the things he was made for.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Give a man health and a course to steer, and he’ll never stop to trouble about whether he’s happy or not.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
A just cause is not ruined by a few mistakes.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) Russian Novelist, Essayist, Writer
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I’m happy. I can’t figure it out. What am I doing right?
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Civil Regrets Advocate, Humanitarian, Lawyer
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Civil Regrets Advocate, Humanitarian, Lawyer
If you’ve ever felt inspired by a purpose or calling, you know the feeling of Spirit working through you. Inspired is our word for in-spirited.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
What we must try to be, of course, is ourselves and wholeheartedly. We must find out what we really are and what we really want.
—Nelson Boswell
Ordinary people think merely of spending time. Great people think of using it.
—Unknown
Battle doesn’t need a purpose; the battle is its own purpose.
—Common Proverb
There is a purpose to our lives that each day tugs at our sleeve as an annoying distraction.
—Robert Brault
If you don’t stand up for something, you may fall for anything.
—Les Brown
It is your work in life that is your ultimate seduction.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
Be the change you want to see in the world.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
What on earth are you doing for Heaven’s sake?
—Indian Proverb
Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our duty is to furnish it well.
—Peter Ustinov (1921–2004) British Actor, Playwright, Director
It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Looking up gives light, although at first it makes you dizzy.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–73) Persian Muslim Mystic
The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
All men seek one goal: success or happiness. The only way to achieve true success is to express yourself completely in service to society. First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal-a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends-wisdom, money, materials and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
The secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) Russian Novelist, Essayist, Writer
If you want to feel connected to your own purpose, know this for certain: Your purpose will only be found in service to others, and in being connected to the something far greater than your mind/body/ego.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet