Get busy living, or get busy dying.
—Stephen King (b.1947) American Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Screenwriter, Columnist, Film Director
Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
If we don’t know life, how can we know death?
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Everything has been figured out, except how to live.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Screenwriter, Political Activist
The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
People living deeply have no fear of death.
—Anais Nin (1903–77) French-American Essayist
Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth … lust. When he is strong … quarrelsomeness. When he is old … covetousness.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Although your father and mother are dead, if you propose to yourself any good work, only reflect how it will make their names illustrious, and your purpose will be fixed.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.
—The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses
Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
You can get all A’s and still flunk life.
—Walker Percy (1916–90) American Novelist
Tis’ better to live your own life imperfectly than to imitate someone else’s perfectly.
—Elizabeth Gilbert (b.1969) American Novelist, Memoirist
What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
When you are laboring for others, let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
I could not, at any age, be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. The fatal thing is the rejection. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
The great decisions of human life usually have far more to do with the instincts and other mysterious unconscious factors than with conscious will and well-meaning reasonableness. The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no universal recipe for living. Each of us carries his own life-form within him—an irrational form which no other can outbid.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.
—Arundhati Roy (b.1961) Indian Author, Actress, Activist
I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Maxim for life: You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
How great is the path proper to the Sage! Like overflowing water, it sends forth and nourishes all things, and rises up to the height of heaven. All-complete is its greatness! It embraces the three hundred rules of ceremony, and the three thousand rules of demeanor. It waits for the proper man, and then it is trodden. Hence it is said, ‘Only by perfect virtue can the perfect path, in all its courses, be made a fact.’
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music-the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist