Nothing exists except by virtue of a disequilibrium, an injustice. All existence is a theft paid for by other existences; no life flowers except on a cemetery.
—Remy de Gourmont (1858–1915) French Critic, Novelist
The very impossibility which I find to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.
—Quentin Crisp (1908–99) English Actor, Artist, Raconteur
No one would choose a friendless existence on condition of having all the other things in the world.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
We spend our lives talking about this mystery. Our life.
—Jules Renard (1864–1910) French Writer, Diarist
The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
People who lead a lonely existence always have something on their minds that they are eager to talk about.
—Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian Short-Story Writer
There is a totalitarian regime inside every one of us. We are ruled by a ruthless politburo which sets our norms and drives us from one five-year plan to another. The autonomous individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
The fact of God is necessary for the fact of man. Think God away and man has no ground of existence.
—A. W. Tozer (1897–1963) American Pastor, Author, Editor
Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.
—Lu Xun (1881–1936) Chinese Writer
The ego exists because we go on pedalling desire, because we go on striving to get something, because we go on jumping ahead of ourselves.
—Sri Rajneesh (Osho) (1931–90) Indian Spiritual Teacher
The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
We don’t exist unless we are deeply and sensually in touch with that which can be touched but not known.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Critic
Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.
—B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) Indian Jurist, Social Reformer
One is still what one is going to cease to be and already what one is going to become. One lives one’s death, one dies one’s life.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Activist
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults and our misfortunes.
—Anne Louise Germaine de Stael (1766–1817) French Woman of Letters
In the wild struggle for existance, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and pure and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
Let us be moral. Let us contemplate existence.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
In the consciousness of the truth he has perceived, man now sees everywhere only the awfulness or the absurdity of existence and loathing seizes him.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices.
—Deepak Chopra (b.1946) Indian-born American Physician, Public Speaker, Writer
All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.
—Buddhist Teaching
One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying.
—Morris West (1916–99) Australian Novelist, Vatican Specialist
Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
It’s not the ‘be or not to be’ which is of any question. It’s the ‘be and not to be’ which has to be digested.
—Hans Taeger
Time is the most precious element of human existence. The successful person knows how to put energy into time and how to draw success from time.
—Denis Waitley (1933–2025) American Speaker, Consultant, Self-help Pioneer
The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-born American Novelist
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