There is no real excellence in all of this world which can be separated from right living.
—David Starr Jordan (1851–1931) American Educator, Ichthyologist
You can have peace of mind, improved health and an ever-increasing flow of energy. Life can be full of joy and satisfaction.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it.
—Danny Kaye (1911–87) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
—Henry Drummond
Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor even touched, but just felt in the heart.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
This is all you have. This is not a dry run. This is your life. If you want to fritter it away with your fears, then you will fritter it away, but you won’t get it back later.
—Laura Schlessinger (b.1947) American Radio Talk-Show Host, Author
We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is awaiting us…. The old skin has to be shed before the new one is to come.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Author, Mythologist
Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
Only fools have no doubts; “Are you sure?”; “I have no doubts!”
—Luciano De Crescenzo (b.1928) Italian Writer, Film Actor, Director, Engineer
Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the nonessentials.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Author, Philologist
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.
—Stephen Vincent Benet (1898–1943) American Poet, Novelist
Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend…when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.
—Sarah Ban Breathnach (b.1947) American Self-help Author
Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Nearly everything you do is of no importance, but it is important that you do it.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.
—Norman Cousins (1912–1990) American Political Journalist
Our life is made by the death of others.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Architect
You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.
—William Watson Purkey (1929–2024) American Educator, Advocate
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
—Jack London (1876–1916) American Novelist
The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist
Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plan living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. Man’s happiness really lies in contentment.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
—Norman MacEwen (1881–1953) British Military Leader
Every year I live I am more convinced that the waste of life lies in the love we have not given, the powers we have not used, the selfish prudence that will risk nothing, and which shirking pain, misses happiness as well. No one ever yet was the poorer in the long run for having once in a lifetime “let out all the length of all the reins.”
—Mary Cholmondeley (1859–1925) British Victorian Novelist
May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live.
—Robert A. Heinlein (1907–88) American Science Fiction Writer
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