Quotes about: life

Alcohol is a very necessary article... It makes life bearable to millions of people who could not endure their existence if they were quite sober. It enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning.
– George Bernard Shaw
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
– George Bernard Shaw
What is life but a series of inspired follies? The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance: it doesn't come every day.
– George Bernard Shaw
The game of life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.
– Florence Shinn
Trouble is part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you a chance to love you enough.
– Dinah Shore
Life is too important to take seriously.
– Corky Siegel
In early childhood you may lay the foundation of poverty or riches, industry or idleness, good or evil, by the habits to which you train your children. Teach them right habits then, and their future life is safe.
– Lydia Sigourney
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.
– Logan Pearsall Smith
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
– Logan Pearsall Smith
There is one piece of advice, in a life of study, which I think no one will object to; and that is, every now and then to be completely idle - to do nothing at all.
– Sydney Smith
Do not pursue what is illusory - property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and can be confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.
– Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.
– Sophocles
No man loves life like him that's growing old.
– Sophocles
Leave each one his touch of folly; it helps to lighten life's burden which, if he could see himself as he is, might be too heavy to carry.
– John Lancaster Spalding
Be on the alert to recognize your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur.
– Muriel Spark
This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us; to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves; to act in such a way that some part of us lives on.
– Oswald Spengler
Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, ease after war, death after life does greatly please.
– Edmund Spenser
If I had my life to live over... I'd dare to make more mistakes next time.
– Nadine Stair
The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.
– Elizabeth Cady Stanton
With age come the inner, the higher life. Who would be forever young, to dwell always in externals?
– Elizabeth Cady Stanton
The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.
– Ben Stein
I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty...This is my highest and best use as a human.
– Ben Stein
There comes a time in every man's life and I've had many of them.
– Casey Stengel
Life is too complicated not to be orderly.
– Martha Stewart
I'm going to a special place when I die, but I want to make sure my life is special while I'm here.
– Payne Stewart
The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust.
– Henry L. Stimson
I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.
– Igor Stravinsky
I have always regarded myself as the pillar of my life.
– Meryl Streep
Never say never, for if you live long enough, chances are you will not be able to abide by its restrictions. Never is a long, undependable time, and life is too full of rich possibilities to have restrictions placed upon it.
– Gloria Swanson
May you live all the days of your life.
– Jonathan Swift
Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.
– Barry Switzer
Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever resues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world.
– Babylonian Talmud
Mistake not. Those pleasures are not pleasures that trouble the quiet and tranquillity of thy life.
– Jeremy Taylor
While there's life, there's hope.
– Terence
Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.
– Henry David Thoreau
Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.
– J. R. R. Tolkien
'I wish life was not so short,' he thought. 'Languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.'
– J. R. R. Tolkien
If one has no vanity in this life of ours, there is no sufficient reason for living.
– Leo Tolstoy
Painting is an attempt to come to terms with life. There are as many solutions as there are human beings.
– George Tooker
No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.
– Judge Gideon J. Tucker
There is no mystery, at least not the kind you want. In real life there are no fogbound moors or clues on matchbooks or fifth columnists waiting to be unmasked. it would be nice if here were, because then there would be solutions to things in life, but it doesn't always work that way. Everyone likes a good detective story. I went through my Hammett phase in college. I think the attraction is, in life our mysteries aren't exciting. You know? They're just intractable and depressing and enervating. Like, why do we always hurt the ones we love. Where does the money go? ...in a detective story, at least the universe makes sense. It was him. He did it. The natural order is disturbed, but the beauty of it is that it's restored again.
– Rogers Turrentine
Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.
– Mark Twain
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
– Mark Twain
After all it is those who have a deep and real inner life who are best able to deal with the irritating details of outer life.
– Evelyn Underhill
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
– US Declaration of Independence
Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.
– Voltaire
Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.
– Kurt Vonnegut
Learning to live what you're born with is the process, the involvement, the making of a life.
– Diane Wakoski
The animals of the planet are in desperate peril... Without free animal life I believe we will lose the spiritual equivalent of oxygen.
– Alice Walker
Reality continues to ruin my life.
– Bill Watterson
We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.
– H. G. Wells
The purpose of life is to fight maturity.
– Dick Werthimer
The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for.
– Oscar Wilde
One should absorb the colour of life, but one should never remember its details. Details are always vulgar.
– Oscar Wilde
I love acting. It is so much more real than life.
– Oscar Wilde
Life is an unbroken succession of false situations.
– Thornton Wilder
Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst elements of American life. Violence and committee meetings.
– George F. Will
I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.
– Frances E. Willard
If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way you think.
– Oprah Winfrey
Living in the moment brings you a sense of reverence for all of life's blessings.
– Oprah Winfrey
Partake of some of life's sweet pleasures. And yes, get comfortable with yourself.
– Oprah Winfrey
The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work.
– Oprah Winfrey
We are each responsible for our own life - no other person is or even can be.
– Oprah Winfrey
Use what you have to run toward your best - that's how I now live my life.
– Oprah Winfrey
Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you're going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus.
– Oprah Winfrey
Before you agree to do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: What is my truest intention? Give yourself time to let a yes resound within you. When it's right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it.
– Oprah Winfrey
I believe that one of life's greatest risks is never daring to risk.
– Oprah Winfrey
It is confidence in our bodies, minds and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures, new directions to grow in, and new lessons to learn - which is what life is all about.
– Oprah Winfrey
A man's subconscious self is not the ideal companion. It lurks for the greater part of his life in some dark den of its own, hidden away, and emerges only to taunt and deride and increase the misery of a miserable hour.
– P. G. Wodehouse
Boyhood, like measles, is one of those complaints which a man should catch young and have done with, for when it comes in middle life it is apt to be serious.
– P. G. Wodehouse
If you can't have faith in what is held up to you for faith, you must find things to believe in yourself, for a life without faith in something is too narrow a space to live.
– George E. Woodberry
I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual.
– Virginia Woolf
Wisdom and spirit of the Universe!
Thou soul is the eternity of thought!
That giv'st to forms and images a breath
And everlasting motion! Not in vain
By day or star-light thus from by first dawn
Of childhood didst thou intertwine for me
The passions that build up our human soul,
Not with the mean and vulgar works of man,
But with high objects, with enduring things,
With life and nature, purifying thus
The elements of feeling and of thought,
And sanctifying, by such discipline
Both pain and fear, until we recognize
A grandeur in the beatings of the heart.
– William Wordsworth
The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.
– Frank Lloyd Wright
It violates right order whenever capital so employees the working or wage-earning classes as to divert business and economic activity entirely to its own arbitrary will and advantage without, the social character of economic life, social justice, and the common good.
– Pope Pius XI
As we look deeply within, we understand our perfect balance. There is no fear of the cycle of birth, life and death. For when you stand in the present moment, you are timeless.
– Rodney Yee
The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.
– Zeno
My entire life has been spent thinking about this game. That's pretty narrow . . . I don't view myself as a person who's well-versed in very many subjects. I'm not proud of that.
– Bill Parcells
The best way to waste your life, is by taking notes. The easiest way to avoid living is to just watch. Look for the details. Report. Don't participate.
– Chuck Palahniuk
Your birth is a mistake you'll spend your whole life trying to correct.
– Chuck Palahniuk
You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.
– Chuck Palahniuk
I want out of the labels. I don't want my whole life crammed into a single word. A story. I want to find something else, unknowable, some place to be that's not on the map. A real adventure. A spinx. A mystery. A blank. Unknown. Undefined.
– Chuck Palahniuk
People are all over the world telling their one dramatic story and how their life has turned into getting over this one event. Now their lives are more about the past than their future.
– Chuck Palahniuk
You can spend your whole life building a wall of facts between you and anything real.
– Chuck Palahniuk
That's the American Dream: to make your life into something you can sell.
– Chuck Palahniuk
When you finally decide how successful you really want to be, you've got to set priorities. Then, each and every day, you've got to take care of the top ones. The lower ones may fall behind, but you can't let the top ones slip. You don't forget about the lower ones though because they can add up to hurt you. Just take care of the top ones first. In 25 years as a head coach and assistant, I think I might have missed one practice. Why? Because practice is my top priority. A day doesn't go by when I don't accomplish something in my family life or my profession because those two things are my top priorities.
– Dan Gable
Without a firm idea of himself and the purpose of his life, man cannot live, and would sooner destroy himself than remain on earth, even if he was surrounded by bread.
– Fyodor Dostoevsky
I used to think that personality traits such as arrogance, repugnant behavior, jealousies, and narrow mindedness were local to an age group or a certain background, but after a careful analysis, I have come to realize that these human expressions, which are common in all walks of life, compel us to observe a strict self-discipline. Exercise self-control and quiet contemplation, an objective view will evolve.
– Pete R. Sehgal
As we all know quite well, no one gets through this life unscathed! Therefore, I have vowed not to use my problems as excuses to stifle my own progress in life.
– Pete R. Sehgal
All my life I've been dealing with my race because of where I grew up and being in the rap game. I'm at a boiling point. Anybody who pulls the race card is getting it right back in their face.
– Eminem
I felt like it's my time to shine, I have to rip this. At that time, I felt that it was a life or death situation.
– Eminem
I need drama in my life to keep making music.
– Eminem
If there's not drama and negativity in my life, all my songs will be really wack and boring or something.
– Eminem
You’ve got enemies? Good. That means you actually stood up for something in your life.
– Eminem
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
– Steve Jobs
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
– Steve Jobs
Your success story is a bigger story than whatever you're trying to say on stage. Success makes life easier. It doesn't make living easier.
– Bruce Springsteen
Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.
– Anne Lamott
Your private life is your private life and you keep it to yourself. You get more respect that way.
– Jay Kay
Your ordinary acts of love and hope point to the extraordinary promise that every human life is of inestimable value.
– Desmond Tutu