Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.
-- Theodore Isaac
Life
is indeed difficult, partly because of the real difficulties we must
overcome in order to survive, and partly because of our own innate
desire to always do better, to overcome new challenges, to
self-actualize. Happiness is experienced largely in striving towards a
goal, not in having attained things, because our nature is always to
want to go on to the next endeavor.
-- Albert Ellis
You're
alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so
uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete
sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.
-- Barbara Hall, A Summons to New Orleans, 2000
The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.
-- Ben Stein
Man is born to live, not to prepare for life.
-- Boris Pasternak (1890 - 1960), Doctor Zhivago, 1958
Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.
-- Brendan Gill
Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it.
-- Christopher Morley (1890 - 1957)
Life
is full of surprises and and serendipity. Being open to unexpected
turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan
every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns. Just find
your next adventure-do it well, enjoy it-and then, not now, think about
what comes next.
-- Condoleeza Rice
In matters of self-control as we shall see again and again, speed kills. But a little friction really can save lives.
-- Daniel Akst, We Have Met the Enemy: Self-Control in an Age of Excess, 2011
When
we exercise self-control on a given occasion, we win for ourselves a
little credibility we can rely on the next time around. Pretty soon we
develop a reputation to ourselves that we want badly to uphold. With
each test that we meet, our resolve gains momentum, fueled by the fear
that we may succumb and establish a damaging precedent for our own
weakness.
-- Daniel Akst, We Have Met the Enemy: Self-Control in an Age of Excess, 2011
Life is a thing that mutates without warning, not always in
enviable ways. All part of the improbable adventure of being alive, of
being a brainy biped with giant dreams on a crazy blue planet.
-- Diane Ackerman, One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, A Marriage, and the Language of Healing, 2011
The purpose of life is to fight maturity.
-- Dick Werthimer
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Romania.
-- Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967), Not So Deep as a Well (1937)
It's not true that life is one damn thing after another; it is one damn thing over and over.
-- Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
Life is just one damned thing after another.
-- Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)
Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep.
-- Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )
Life is something that everyone should try at least once.
--Henry J. Tillman
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
-- Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
Life
is difficult and complicated and beyond anyone's total control, and the
humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.
-- J. K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement Address, 2008
Life is a long lesson in humility.
--James M. Barrie (1860 - 1937)
He only earns his freedom and existence who daily conquers them anew.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
-- John Lennon (1940 - 1980), "Beautiful Boy"
In
real life, however, you don't react to what someone did; you react only
to what you think she did, and the gap between action and perception is
bridged by the art of impression management. If life itself is but what
you deem it, then why not focus your efforts on persuading others to
believe that you are a virtuous and trustworthy cooperator?
-- Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, 2005
The
lessons this life has planted in my heart pertain more to caring than
crops, more to Golden Rule than gold, more to the proper choice than to
the popular choice.
Kirby Larson, Hattie Big Sky, 2006
Life
ain't like books. Books got somebody writin' 'em and tryin' to
entertain ya. Life is more like set of Legos. Unless you take care of
'em, you lose a few pieces and you end up steppin' on 'em with bare
feet. You gotta take care of your life.
Laura Moncur (1969 - ), Merriton: 35 Minutes Away From Home, 02-29-12
Nature
has invented reproduction as a mechanism for life to move forward. As a
life force that passes right through us and makes us a link in the
evolution of life.
Louis Schwartzberg, TED, the hidden beauty of pollination, March 2011
Life is fickle; the fair man doesn't invariably win.
Mark Hodder, The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack
(Burton & Swinburne in), 2010
The secret of a good life is to have the right loyalties and hold them in the right scale of values.
Norman Thomas (1884 - 1968)
Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.
Brenda Gill
The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.
Ben Stein
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates
The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.
-- Zeno
Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
-- Hans Christian
When
I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not
have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you
gave me."
-- Erma Bombeck
I arise in the morning torn between a
desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes
it hard to plan the day.
--- Elwyn Brooks White
