Meaning Of Life Quotes

“It’s true I do have time and freedom and I love it, sometimes. But the notion that I should be “making the most of it”, travelling the world or out every night, there’s a kind of tyranny in that too, that life has to be full, like your life’s a hole that you have to keep filling, a leaky bucket, and not just fulfilled but seen to be fulfilled. “You don’t have kids, why can’t you speak Portuguese?” Do I have to have hobbies and projects and lovers? Do I have to excel? Can’t I just be happy, or unhappy, just mess about and read and waste time and be unfulfilled by myself?”
― David Nicholls, You Are Here

“With all the madness in the world, it is difficult to imagine what the point of everything is. When we grapple existential questions, we are left with no answers, but the futile acceptance that there is no meaning in life. When faced with existence, the question does not become a means to answer what should or could be done, but what would you do now that this situation is given in front of you?”
― Billy Poon, The Selficated Society: Why We Are Depressed in the Modern Age and How You Can Break Free from Suffering to Live a Life Worthwhile

“Maybe that's it," he says. "Art is the meaning of life.”
― Terry J. Benton-Walker, Blood Debts

“تخیل بسیار مهم تر از دانش است.”
― Albert Einstein

“What is more, to say that we invent values means neither more nor less than this: life has no meaning a priori. Life itself is nothing until it is lived, it is we who give it meaning, and value is nothing more than the meaning that we give it. You can see, then, that it is possible to create a human community.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism

“These pictures. A hundred years. My great-grandparents. The Civil War. My parents. The world wars. My brothers. I just think of what all these people went through. To produce me. Me. I'm the result. Ah, Jesus, Duke, what happened to us? How did we get to be what we are? I just can't stand thinking about it - it's so awful. So sad.”
― Lawrence Sanders, The Anderson Tapes

“Endless progress may be symbolized by running ahead indefinitely into an empty space. We will do that, but it is not the meaning of life; nor are better and better gadgets the meaning of life. What is the meaning of life then? Perhaps it is something else. Perhaps there are great moments in history. There is in these great moments not total fulfillment but there is the victory over a particular power of destruction, a victory over a demonic power which was creative and now has become destructive. This is a possibility, but don't expect that it must happen. It might not happen; that is a continuous threat hanging over development in history. But there may be a kairos.”
― Paul Tillich, The Future of Religions

“The mistake men make is cheating on the meaning of life with a woman.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov

“...horror reminds us of the utter hopelessness and meaninglessness of evil and suffering; when a child dies of cancer there is no “hidden” meaning, no cosmic plan that we have to wait for to be revealed one day that will make sense of this great suffering, rather, the death of any child is an utter disgrace, a meaningless void of pain that hurts every part of what it means to be human, and any attempt to frame such tragedy as part of God’s plan needs to be exorcised from all our thinking.”
― Joseph Haward, Be Afraid: How Horror and Faith Can Change the World

“Meditation is not something new. It is not something added to you, it is not an achievement. You already have it. Meditation is your inner being. But we have never explored our inner being.
Man explores everything. He will go to Mount Everest and he will go to the moon, but he will never think of going within himself. That is the basic problem for man, which creates all misery.
The real treasure is within ourselves. Unless one explores the inner treasure and unless one enters the treasure of one's own being,
one's life becomes a wastage. We are losing the challenge and opportunity of life, and we are not even aware that we are losing the golden opportunity of life.
Man is searching for his own inner treasure, but he is seeking in the wrong direction. By going to Mount Everest, he is really trying to
find the highest peak of consciousness, but the real treasure is within yourself.
The only treasure worth searching for is your own authentic nature, your inner consciousness.
Once this search becomes a conscious commitment, then your inner search will not fail. Those who have allowed this commitment to become their greatest decision of life, have always reached to their inner authentic being. And then, an inner light explodes. One suddenly comes to know what life is and what is the meaning of life.”
― Swami Dhyan Giten, Man is Part of the Whole: Silence, Love, Joy, Truth, Compassion, Freedom and Grace

“etc."
I have been searching for my self everywhere,
but I can’t find it!
I can’t even remember when exactly I lost it…
I search for it in everything I love and hate
in foreign and familiar cities
in all the kind, exhausted, and mean faces…
I search for my self near water springs and along river shores
On mountaintops and in the scent of wildflowers…
Between the branches of olive and fig trees,
but without any trace or hope…
I search in teacups, in the corners of old cafés
In songs and interludes…
In books
In the memories of everyone who ever knew me
Everyone I betrayed or was betrayed by…
I search in lines and sentences,
But all in vain…
I even search unsuccessfully in the sentences that list options,
including the examples and each “etc.” after each list of options…
I keep wondering how did I so quietly lose it?
And each time I ask the loved ones about my strong desire
to reunite with my lost self,
I realize they have no leads other than long and wide lists
of places, things, activities, individuals, and hobbies
where I may possibly “find” my self…
In each list they suggest, I find countless options
and countless lines ending with “etc.”
They don’t understand
that I have turned every rock and searched behind every “etc.”
And today I finally realized
That my self wasn’t from here,
and thus, it was never here…
That, all along, I have been searching for an illusion
that never existed…

[Original poem published in Arabic on March 11, 2024 at ahewar.org]”
― Louis Yako

“I am content,” Rudy often told Danny.
“Is that all?” Danny would ask.
“What else is there?”
Danny was always conflicted between agreeing, and being contrary.
“We spend countless hours simply filling our days to the brim. Work, relationships, hobbies. Anything to distract us. It has to be about the excesses—about finding our obsessions to live and die by,” Danny said, eyebrow raised.
“Are you asking or simply saying?” Rudy had replied, in that manner of his that made you feel as though you were intruding, as though he wished he were somewhere else with his nose-deep in a book. Yet he wasn’t.
“I guess both,” Danny confessed.
“You’re asking ‘What is life?’”
“Yes.”
“That’s like asking ‘What is a carrot?’ It’s a carrot!” here Rudy held up one of the orange veggies, pulling it seemingly from thin air.
“And, by that logic, then,” Danny said, snatching it from Rudy’s hand. “You’re telling me, that life is a carrot?”
“Now you got it!” Rudy beamed, summoning another carrot.”
― Kyle St Germain, Dysfunction

“We are here to give love,
to receive love,
to express love and
actualize love,
to enjoy and share love,
and to expand our capacity for love!”
― Christian Sundberg, A Walk in the Physical: Understanding the Human Experience Within the Larger Spiritual Context

“For what do mortals know, with their limited means? Except that earthly life, whether noble or base, is sad, and the oceans of the world are created from the salt tears of men.”
― Thomas Berger, Arthur Rex

“Людина має три рольові зв'язки: зі своїм Творцем, зі самим собою та з ближнім. Підтримання кожного з них надає сенс нашому життю. Віддати Богові те, що Йому належить. Використати максимально те, що ми отримали. Поділитися з іншим тим, чим можемо. У цьому і є сенс життя.”
― Любомир Гузар

“بخشش، بیش از آنچه به فردی که می بخشیم کمک کند در واقع به خود ما کمک می کند.”
― Alex Pattakos, Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl's Principles at Work

“زندگی چیزی را به تو پس می دهد که تو به آن داده ای . زندگی تلاقی وقایع و رویدادها نیست بلکه انعکاسی است از عملکرد تو!”
― Alex Pattakos, Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl's Principles at Work

“زمانی که به کاری مشغول هستید و علاقه ای نسبت به آن ندارید، دو گزینه پیش روی شماست، یکی اینکه آن شغل را رها کرده و یا راه دیگر اینکه سعی کنید معنا را در آن شغل بیابید.”
― Alex Pattakos, Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl's Principles at Work

“От в цьому сенс життя – сказав мені один тамтешній інтеліґент. У нас це всі знають, що найголовнішим у житті є смачна їда, добрі напої і говорити, говорити, говорити з кимось, часом обніматися і цілуватися, потому добре спати. І чекати наступного доброго вечора, бо перед тим буде страшна виснажлива праця на самоті.”
― Taras Prokhasko, Так, але…

“We mean that man first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterward defines himself. If man as existentialists conceive of him cannot be defined, it is because to begin with he is nothing. He will not be anything until later, and then he will be what he makes of himself. Thus, there is no human nature since there is no God to conceive of it. Man is not only that which he conceives himself to be, but that which he wills himself to be, and since he conceives of himself only after he exists, just as he wills himself to be after being thrown into existence, man is nothing other than what he makes of himself. This is the first principle of existentialism.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism

“A. When Leotard poses the problem of the inhuman, he gets as far as "purposelessness" and then seems to stop. What he takes to be an objection to life is rather a clue to its real point. Purposelessness is not a problem but the very condition of grace, of the gift of grace, which comes without benefactor or debt. Life is not a coupon you turn in for a reward at the end. Iyt is not an admission ticket for a trip to another world. Life is not trying to reach it "end."
Q. Don't you see what you are saying? If it is purposeless, it is meaningless.
A. It is without a purpose, not because it falls short of a purpose, like an obsolete tool that no longer serves a use, but because it is in excess of a purpose. It is not less than purposeful but more than useful. It is without a purpose in the sense that it cannot be treated as means to some long-term and external end; it does not serve a purpose like that. A particular thing in the world may be of service to another, but the world as a whole is not in service.”
― John D. Caputo, Hoping Against Hope: Confessions of a Postmodern Pilgrim

“The tragic sense of life has its origin in our determination to carry off two incompatible, but equally serious, ambitions: to search for meaning and to face reality. An intense, unceasing demand for meaning - the longing for life to make benevolent, beautiful sense - is coupled with the dawning, appalling fact that it does not, in the end, make sense in that way. Tragedy is the name for horror seen against the backdrop of love.

This is an area in which civilization does not reduce our suffering - does not make life more pleasing or comfortable. What is the achievement of tragedy? It is to present the deepest sorrows of the human condition: what we love is terribly vulnerable; each life is a brief, scarring moment in the wastes of eternity; our transient existence will be marked by depression, confusion, and fear ... The ambition of tragedy is to hold such intelligent fears in a ceremonial act endowed with splendour and grace.

The ceremony does not overcome our fears. But, unlike horror, it does not seek to stoke anxiety. The tragic view is, really, a determination to hold on to nobility, love and beauty - even while knowing the worst about ourselves.”
― John Armstrong, In Search of Civilization

“We are not aware of who we are. We are not aware of the inner being, the authentic self, the source from which we come. We are not aware why we have come here.
We are not aware of what our purpose is. There must be come purpose, some meaning and there must be some message to be delivered. There must be some work to be done, and something has to happen through us. Nobody is here accidental and everybody
is on a mission, which we are unaware of.
We are not aware of who we are, and we are not aware of why we are here, but that does not make any difference to the truth. Whether the truth is known or not, it still remains the truth. Not knowing it makes no difference.
Everybody is here to fulfill a certain purpose, a certain meaning. Unless you have not done that for which you have come here, you will not feel a deep sense of joy and meaning.
That is the basic cause why there is so much misery. The basic cause of misery is that we are doing something for which we are not
meant. Everybody is trying to be somebody else. You can never be somebody else, you can only be your own self.
Without meditation you will never know who you really are, and what your purpose here is. With meditation you will become more silent, joyful and a clarity will arise. You can see clearly what your purpose here is. You can see clearly what will create a deep sense of joy and meaning in you. Then your whole life goes through a radical change. Then you start doing that for which you are meant.
Meditation is the method of discovery of who you really are, your purpose, your goal, your meaning, and once you start doing it, your life will become a joy.”
― Swami Dhyan Giten, Man is Part of the Whole: Silence, Love, Joy, Truth, Compassion, Freedom and Grace

“Awareness is the highway to meaning.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“As everything stands now, the purpose of life is a life of purpose. Our purpose is to search for purpose as we now know that we are still incapable of producing the answers that we seek, so the best course of action is to enlarge our scale of consciousness while we delve deeper and enrich every aspect of our lives, most especially our relationships with other people.”
― Billy Poon, The Why Of Life: Why We Live Without Purpose and How to Find Meaning in a Pointless Life

“With purpose comes the implication of power. It might even be that purpose is power. With the rise of the self-help industry, purpose is being seen as a positive light toward self-fulfillment. As purpose is a tool, people are using it in a way that can satisfy themselves and only themselves.”
― Billy Poon, The Why Of Life: Why We Live Without Purpose and How to Find Meaning in a Pointless Life

“A life of death is the death of life. We do not know what comes after death, but in the context of life, we do know that when we die, our loved ones will miss us, and we can never be brought back to life ever again.”
― Billy Poon, The Why Of Life: Why We Live Without Purpose and How to Find Meaning in a Pointless Life

“We are who others are. We cannot exist in this world devoid of other people’s grace. There will always be a time when we have to face others, whether we like it or not. From the minute we are born, we have to face the embrace of our mother and father. To us, they are other people; they are not you, even though parts of them live through you. From the time you are born, you have unequivocally entered a social contract with your mother and father – that you will live in this world.”
― Billy Poon, The Why Of Life: Why We Live Without Purpose and How to Find Meaning in a Pointless Life

“A life lived is enough to make it worthwhile.”
― Billy Poon, The Why Of Life: Why We Live Without Purpose and How to Find Meaning in a Pointless Life

“If you haven't pondered the futility of life, you haven't lived enough. If you haven't conquered the futility of life, you haven't grown enough.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets