Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
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
Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.
—Agatha Christie (1890–1976) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Deep down, no one really believes they have a right to live. But this death sentence generally stays tucked away, hidden beneath the difficulty of living. If that difficulty is removed from time to time, death is suddenly there, unintelligibly.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
Searching is half the fun: life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party.
—Jimmy Buffett (b.1946) American Musician, Author
Four Lessons on Life 1. Never take down a fence until you know why it was put up. 2. If you get too far ahead of the army, your soldiers may mistake you for the enemy. 3. Don’t complain about the bottom rungs of the ladder; they helped to get you higher. 4. If you want to enjoy the rainbow, be prepared to endure the storm.
—Warren W. Wiersbe (1929–2019) American Pastor, Biblical Scholar
We do not need to proselytize either by our speech or by our writing. We can only do so really with our lives. Let our lives be open books for all to study.
—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
Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God’s Paradise.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
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
To live is like to love—all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.
—Samuel Butler
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
Live your life as an exclamation—not an explanation.
—Anonymous
Myth is an attempt to narrate a whole human experience, of which the purpose is too deep, going too deep in the blood and soul, for mental explanation or description.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
Accept life, take it as it is? Stupid. The means of doing otherwise? Far from our having to take it, it is life that possesses us and on occasion shuts our mouths.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
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
It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
I know this now. Every man gives his life for what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing yet they give their lives to that little or nothing. One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. And then it is gone. But to sacrifice what you are and live without belief, that’s more terrible than dying.
—Joan of Arc (c.1412–31) French National Heroine
A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
The best things in life are never rationed. Friendship, loyalty, love, do not require coupons.
—Captain George T. Hewitt
Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
After all, life is really simple; we ourselves create the circumstances that complicate it.
—Unknown
However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in Paradise. Love your life.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Birth, copulation and death. That’s all the facts when you come to the brass tacks.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
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
It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.
—Gilda Radner (1946–89) American Comedian, Actress
Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now!
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist