Life Quotes

500+ Sourced quotes

Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.

I am gradually approaching the period in my life when work comes first. When both the boys went away for Easter, I hardly did anything but work. Worked, slept, ate and went for short walks. But above all I worked. And yet I wonder whether the "blessing" is not missing from such work. No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes.

Käthe Kollwitz

Try not to turn your life into a race, least of all an obstacle race.

José Bergamín

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

The experience gathered from books, though often valuable, is but the nature of learning; whereas the experience gained from actual life is one of the nature of wisdom.

The structure of life I have described in buildings - the structure which I believe to be objective - is deeply and inextricably connected with the human person, and with the innermost nature of human feeling.

Christopher Alexander

The terrible thing about terrorism is that ultimately it destroys those who practise it. Slowly but surely, as they try to extinguish life in others, the light within them dies.

Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.

Clever people seem not to feel the natural pleasure of bewilderment, and are always answering questions when the chief relish of a life is to go on asking them.

Frank Moore Colby

Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.

Sholem Aleichem

Hatred strikes me as one of the few signs of life remaining in the world. This is another thing about the world which is upsidedown: all the friendly and likable people seem dead to me; only the haters seem alive. (2.9).

The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.

You don't become a saint until you lead a good life whether in Tibet or Italy or America.

Kenneth Rexroth

Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope — a slight change, and all patterns and configurations alter.

Sharon Salzberg

For books are more than books, they are the life,
The very heart and core of ages past.
The reason why men lived, and worked, and died,
The essence and quintessence of their lives.

Every person, all the events of your life, are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you.

Wouldn't you like to see a positive LSD story on the news? To base your decision on information rather than scare tactics and superstition? Perhaps? Wouldn't that be interesting? Just for once? "Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration – that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."

Life is not so very long... A little work, a little sleep, a little love, and it is all over.

Mary Roberts Rinehart

To appreciate nonsense requires a serious interest in life.

Stand firm in your refusal to remain conscious during algebra. In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.

Build this day on a foundation of pleasant thoughts. Never fret at any imperfections that you fear may impede your progress. Remind yourself, as often as necessary, that you are a creature of God and have the power to achieve any dream by lifting up your thoughts. You can fly when you decide that you can. Never consider yourself defeated again. Let the vision in your heart be in your life's blueprint. Smile!

Life in the twentieth century is like a parachute jump: you have to get it right the first time.

For every five well-adjusted and smoothly functioning Americans, there are two who never had the chance to discover themselves. It may well be because they have never been alone with themselves. The great omission in American life is solitude.

I had this rare privilege of being able to pursue in my adult life, what had been my childhood dream.

Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one's life.

Anthony Bourdain