It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them. —Alfred Adler
When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life. —Greg Anderson
The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving—with passion and compassion,and humor and style, and generosity, and kindness. —Maya Angelou
Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced—stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit, and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these. —Susan B. Anthony
Remember that man’s life lies all within this present, as it were but a hair’s breath of time; as for the rest,the past is gone, the future may never be. —Marcus Aurelius
You don’t get to choose how you are going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you are going to live. NOW! —Joan Baez
We sleep, but the loom of life never stops and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when the sun comes up tomorrow. —Henry Ward Beecher
At dawn I asked the lotus, “What is the meaning of life?” Slowly she opened her hand with nothing in it. —Debra Woolard Bender, Paper Lanterns
You give 100% in the first half of the game; and if that isn’t enough, in the second half you give what’s left. —Yogi Berra
The special life is where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, the natural becomes miraculous, the everyday becomes unique. Finding the magic and wonder within nature is the most assured means by which children rediscover the joy of life. —Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Understanding the difference between healthy striving and perfectionism is critical to laying down the shield and picking up your life. —Dr. Brené Brown
Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. —Buddha
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter . . . to be thrilled by the stars at night;
to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life. —John Burroughs
Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions, and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, “Did you bring joy?” The second was, “Did you find joy?” —Leo Buscaglia
Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions; and then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it ends. —Joseph Campbell
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. —Dale Carnegie
One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others. —Lewis Carroll
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong; because someday in life you will have been all of these. —George Washington Carver
I like living. I have sometimes been wild, despairing, 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
Life is not always what one wants it to be; but to make the best of it, as it is, is the only way of being happy. —Jennie Jerome Churchill
I believe that a worthwhile life is defined by a kind of spiritual journey and a sense of obligation. —Hilary Rodham Clinton
Life is the moment we’re living right now. —Paulo Coelho
What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
—Crowfoot
One cannot lead a life that is truly excellent without feeling that one belongs to something greater and more permanent than oneself. —Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. —Marie Curie
Life is not holding a good hand; life is playing a poor hand well. —Danish proverb
I have learned that there is more to life than just basically wishing for the future to be a certain way. You have to live in the now, you’ve got to make yourself happy now. There is nothing wrong with dreaming; but enjoying everyday makes your life worth something, whether you actually achieve what it is you are hoping for or not. —Linda Davis
To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else. —Emily Dickinson
If you’re not in the parade, you watch the parade. That’s life. —Mike Ditka
I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again. —F. Scott Fitzgerald
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
The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those day when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to live, and the promise of future accomplishments. —Gustave Flaubert
Life is about learning and evolving into the highest expression of ourselves. —Debbie Ford
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on. —Robert Frost
There is more to life than increasing its speed. —Mohandas Gandhi
Every morning when we wake up, we have 24 brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! —Thich Nhat Hanh
Life can be found only in the present moment. —Thich Nhat Hanh
Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. —Tom Hanks, in Forrest Gump
You are in the driver’s seat of your life and can point your life down any road you want to travel. You can go as fast or as slow as you want to go . . . and you can change the road you’re on at any time. —Jinger Heath
Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. —Mary Jean Iron
One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter. —James Earl Jones
Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved. —Van Kaam
It’s only when we hear that someone is dying or has suddenly died that we suddenly see our “big problems” for what they really are: fleeting distractions from the awesome potentiality of simply being alive. —Kajama
If you look back for the turning points that proved pivotal in your life, you’ll realize that very rarely were you aware of how momentous your decisions would prove to be at the time. This is one reason to remain open to guidance from Spirit; to tune in regularly and to maintain an open mind and heart. When we’re regularly dialoguing with Spirit, we act on little nudges and intuitions, any of which may open big new doors and lead us in whole new directions. —Kajama
It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth, and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had. —Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Our prime purpose in life is to help others; and if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them. —Dalai Lama
We are visitors on this planet. We are here for ninety or one hundred years at the very most. Dring that period, we must try to do something good, something useful with our lives. If you contribute to other people’s happiness, you will find the true goal, the true meaning of life.
—His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama
For humans, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive. —D. H. Lawrence
If only we could have two lives: the first in which to make one’s mistakes, which seem as if they have to be made; and the second in which to profit by them. —D. H. Lawrence
The game of life is not so much in holding a good hand as playing a poor hand well. —H. T. Leslie
In the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. —Abraham Lincoln
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
My mantra has become: Know no boundaries. This does not suggest reckless abandon, but an open mind that asks, What would I attempt to do if I were sure I wouldn’t fail? —Joan Lunden, Wake-Up Calls
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. —Norman MacEwan
Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. —Joshua J. Marine
I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed, goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit. —Dawna Markova
Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. —Harold B. Melchart
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. —Herman Melville
To receive true spiritual guidance, one must deal with the past, have faith in the future, but live in the present. —élan michaels
It’s not true that life is one damn thing after another; it’s one damn thing over and over. —Edna St. Vincent Millay
Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how . . . We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark. —Agnes de Mille
The aim of life is to live; and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. —Henry Miller
Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes . . . everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. —Henry Miller
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
Start living now. Stop saving the good china for that special occasion. Stop withholding your love until that special person materializes. Every day you are alive is a special occasion. Every minute, every breath, is a gift from God. —Mary Manin Morrissey
Live as though you have the power to change the world—because you do. —Caroline Myss
And those who were seen dancing, were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. —Frederick Nietsche
Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life? —Mary Oliver
An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite and complicated and exeptional, somehow managing to be both heroic and plain. —Susan Orlean
Our culture wants to turn mysteries into problems to be solved or breakdowns to be fixed, because maintaining the illusion that we can “straighten things out” makes us feel powerful. Yet mysteries never yield to solutions or fixes—and when we pretend that they do, life not only becomes more banal, but more hopeless because the fixes never work. —Parker J. Palmer
Death is not the greatest loss of life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live. —Norman Palmerston
Wouldn’t it be better to turn life into poetry rather than to make poetry from life? —Octavio Paz
The truth about your own life is not always easy to accept, and sometimes hasn’t even occurred to you. —Anna Quindlen
Life is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long stretch of gray cement. We have to teach ourselves how to make room for them, to love them, and to live, really live. —Anna Quindlen
Live with intention,
Walk to the edge,
Listen hard,
Practice wellness,
Play with abandon,
Laugh,
Choose with no regret,
Continue to learn,
Appreciate your friends,
Do what you love,
Live as if this is all there is.
—Mary Anne Radmacher
While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die—whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness. —Gilda Radner
There is one purpose to life and one only: to bear witness to and understand as much as possible of the complexity of the world . . . its beauty, its mysteries, its riddles . . . The more you understand, the more you look, the greater is your enjoyment of life and your sense of peace. —Anne Rice
I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy. —Anthony Robbins
Someone once asked me what I want on my epitaph when I pass away. Just the words, “I tried.” That’s what this game of life is all about . . . trying. There’s the triers, the criers, and the liars. —Mickey Rooney
If life were predictable, it would cease to be life, and be without flavor. —Eleanor Roosevelt
The purpose of life, after all, is to love it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. —Eleanor Roosevelt
Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life. —Eleanor Roosevelt
Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much. —Theodore Roosevelt
Man does not live by a turkey in every oven or a color TV set in every home. Man lives by faith and hope and love, by the star on the horizon, by the trumpet that will not call retreat. —E. Merrill Root
The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. —Bertrand Russell
So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. —Morrie Schwartz (in Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom)
The tragedy of life is what dies in man while he lives. —Albert Schweitzer
Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself. —Chief Seattle
You have to count on living every single day in a way you believe will make you feel good about your life so that if it were over tomorrow, you’d be content with yourself. —Jane Seymour
Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations. —George Bernard Shaw
Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams. —Ashley Smith
Treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. —Souza
Some days seem to fit together like a stained glass window. A hundred little pieces of different color and mood that, when combined, create a complete picture. —Maggie Stiefvater
Integrate what you believe in every single area of your life. Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else, too. Don’t let your special character and values, the secret that you know and no one else does—the truth—don’t let that get swallowed up by the great chewing complacency. —Meryl Streep
Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.
—Mother Teresa
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands. —Thessalonians 4:11
It is always difficult to identify the many threads that make up the fabric of a life’s work. —E. Donnall Thomas
Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around. —Henry David Thoreau
I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. —Henry David Thoreau
Change is not merely necessary to life. It is life. —Alvin Toffler
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. —Mark Twain
Everyone vibrates to a chord, and the chord goes through a progression during their life. —Stevie Ray Vaughan
Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential. —Kerry Washington
I don’t have to be perfect. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect, and beautiful journey of my life. It’s a trip more wonderful than I could have imagined. —Kerry Washington
Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is the special occasion. —Ann Wells
Man must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind him to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and a mystery. —H. G. Wells
If you’re someone people count on, particularly in difficult moments, that’s a sign of a life lived honorably. —Oprah Winfrey
The healthiest life is one that’s lived thoughtfully, with the goal of making your body and mind feel as nourished and alive as they possibly can. —Oprah Winfrey
Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want. —Margaret Young
If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live. —Lin Yutang
“I have done my best.” That is about all the philosophy of living one needs. —Lin Yutang
No birth is an accident; no experience is without meaning; and no life is without value. —Gary Zukav
Lead your life so you won’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip. —Author Unknown
Life is like an onion; you peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep. —Author Unknown
Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but by how we react to what happens; not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results. —Author Unknown
Beware of the barrenness of a busy life. —Author Unknown
Life is too short. Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness. Laugh when you can, apologize when you should and let go of what you can’t change. —Author Unknown