Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future.
—Unknown
A slave has no choice.
—African Proverb
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.
—Kofi Annan (1938–2018) Ghanaian Statesman, International Diplomat
One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Don’t be scared when you have no other choice.
—Yiddish Proverb
A human being is a deciding being.
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
When you have no choice, mobilize the spirit of courage.
—Hebrew Proverb
Every street has two sides, the shady side and the sunny. When two men shake hands and part, mark which of the two takes the sunny side; he will be the younger man of the two.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Life is a sum of all your choices.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
We are as much informed of a writer’s genius by what he selects as by what he originates.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A man can’t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
You are either part of the solution or part of the problem.
—Eldridge Cleaver (1935–98) American Activist, Writer
Allow the world to live as it chooses, and allow yourself to live as you choose.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Writer, Aviator
There is always a time to make right what is wrong.
—Susan Griffin (1943–2025) American Ecofeminist Philosopher, Playwright
Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
The only causes of regret are laziness, outbursts of temper, hurting others, prejudice, jealousy, and envy.
—Germaine Greer (b.1939) Australia Academic, Journalist, Scholar, Writer
Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
It is your own convictions which compels you; that is, choice compels choice.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Instead of looking at life as a narrowing funnel, we can see it ever widening to choose the things we want to do, to take the wisdom we’ve learned and create something.
—Liz Carpenter (1920–2010) American Journalist, Political Adviser
Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
You can’t choose up sides on a round world.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
On this narrow planet, we have only the choice between two unknown worlds. One of them tempts us—ah! what a dream, to live in that!—the other stifles us at the first breath.
—Colette (1873–1954) French Novelist, Performer
The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Thus we see that the all important thing is not killing or giving life, drinking or not drinking, living in the town or the country, being unlucky or lucky, winning or losing. It is how we win, how we lose, how we live or die, finally, how we choose.
—Reginald Horace Blyth (1898–1964) British Japanologist, Zen Author
The experiences of camp life show that a man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even in the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to life.
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
No choice is an option.
—Yiddish Proverb
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