best quotations about
Life |
| 171 quotes | Visits: 6,361 |
Quotations
 | Life is a zero sum game. — George Carlin, 1936-2008, American comedian 25 likes |
 | Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. — Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian leader of independence 17 likes |
 | In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate. — Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992, American Sci-Fi writer 17 likes |
 | If A is success in life, then A = x + y + z. Work is x, play is y and z is keeping your mouth shut. — Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German-Jewish physicist 16 likes |
 | You can alter your life by altering the state of your mind. — William James, 1842-1910, American philosopher 15 likes |
 | But life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future. — Seneca, 5 AD-65 AD, Roman philosopher 13 likes |
 | Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats. — Voltaire, 1694-1778, French philosopher & writer 13 likes |
 | Do not wait for life. Do not long for it. Be aware, always and at every moment, that the miracle is in the here and now. — Marcel Proust, 1871-1922, French writer 12 likes |
 | To live is to suffer; to survive is to find meaning in suffering. — Victor Frankl, 1905-1997, Austrian neurologist 12 likes |
 | People find life entirely too time-consuming. — Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, 1906-1966, Polish author of maxims 10 likes |
 | Create a life you can’t wait to live. — Zig Ziglar, 1926-2012, American self-help writer 9 likes |
 | Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans. — Thomas La Mance, American humorist 9 likes |
 | Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. — Jean de La Bruyère, 1645-1696, French writer 8 likes |
| Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. — Seneca, 5 AD-65 AD, Roman philosopher 8 likes |
 | Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. — Søren Kierkegaard, 1813-1855, Danish philosopher 8 likes |
 | Do not take life too seriously; you will never get out of it alive. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 7 likes |
| Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. — Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German-Jewish physicist 7 likes |
 | Life is a constant process of dying. — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German philosopher 7 likes |
 | Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats. — George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer 7 likes |
 | Life is a horizontal fall. — Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French artist 6 likes |
 | Why can’t I try on different lives, like dresses, to see which one fits me and is most becoming? — Sylvia Plath, 1932-1963, American poet & writer 6 likes |
 | Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be. — Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962, Wife of the 32nd USA president 6 likes |
 | Life biggest tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. — Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, American politician & writer 6 likes |
| The shortness of life, so often lamented, may be the best thing about it. — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German philosopher 6 likes |
| There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome. — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German philosopher 6 likes |
 | You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth. — H.L. Mencken, 1880-1956, American columnist & cultural critic 6 likes |
 | Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 6 likes |
 | There is not love of life without despair about life. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 6 likes |
| We never live; we are always in the expectation of living. — Voltaire, 1694-1778, French philosopher & writer 6 likes |
| The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. — William James, 1842-1910, American philosopher 6 likes |
 | I’ll go through life either first class or third, but never in second. — Noel Coward, 1899-1973, British playwright 6 likes |
 | It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project. — Napoleon Hill, 1883-1970, American self-help writer 6 likes |
 | Love for life is still possible, only one loves differently: it is like love for a woman whom one does not trust. — Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German philosopher 5 likes |
 | It is not the length of life, but the depth. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1884, American philosopher 5 likes |
 | Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research. — Karl Jung, 1875-1961, Swiss psychiatrist 5 likes |
| Life is just one damn thing after another. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 5 likes |
| Life is a compromise between fate and free will. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 5 likes |
| The secret is that only that which can destroy itself is truly alive. — Karl Jung, 1875-1961, Swiss psychiatrist 5 likes |
 | Life is a four letter word. — Lenny Bruce, 1925-1966, American comedian 5 likes |
 | Let all of life be an unfettered howl. — Vladimir Nabokov, 1899-1977, Russian-American writer 5 likes |
 | We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. — William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, English poet & playwright ‐ The Tempest 4 likes |
 | The great object of life is sensation- to feel that we exist, even though in pain. — Lord Byron, 1788-1824, British poet 4 likes |
| Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death. — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German philosopher 4 likes |
 | Life is a maze in which we take the wrong turning before we have learnt to walk. — Cyril Connolly, 1903-1974, British writer 4 likes |
 | A useless life is an early death. — Wolfgang Goethe, 1749-1832, German poet & philosopher 4 likes |
 | The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. — Jean-Paul Sartre, 1905-1980, French philosopher 4 likes |
| Life should be lived to the point of tears. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 4 likes |
 | Life is like an onion; you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep. — Carl Sandburg, 1878-1967, American poet 4 likes |
 | As I grow to understand life less and less, I learn to love it more and more. — Jules Renard, 1864-1910, French writer 4 likes |
 | Three of life's most important areas: work, love, and taking responsibility. — Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939, Austrian psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis 4 likes |
| Life in abundance comes only through great love. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 4 likes |
 | Life is perhaps best regarded as a bad dream between two awakenings. — Eugene O’Neill, 1888-1953, American playwright, Nobel 1936 4 likes |
 | Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames. — Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian mystic & poet 4 likes |
 | Man spends his life in reasoning on the past, in complaining of the present, in fearing future. — Antoine Rivarol, 1753-1801, French author of maxims 4 likes |
 | All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret. — Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1927-2014, Colombian writer 4 likes |
 | Life's a tough proposition, and the first hundred years are the hardest. — Wilson Mizner, 1876-1913, American playwright 4 likes |
 | The important thing in Life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. — Pierre de Coubertin, 1863-1937, French, father of the Olympic Games 4 likes |
 | The key to life is accepting challenges. Once someone stops doing this, he's dead. — Bette Davis, 1908-1989, American actress 4 likes |
 | Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work. 4 likes |
 | And yet, what a novel my life has been! Quel roman pourtant que ma vie! — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 3 likes |
| My life is my message. — Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian leader of independence 3 likes |
| Life is a business that does not cover the costs. — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German philosopher 3 likes |
| Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 3 likes |
 | A man's life is interesting primarily when he has failed — I well know. For it's a sign that he tried to surpass himself. — Georges Clemenceau, 1841-1929, French Prime Minister 3 likes |
| The years in your life are less important than the life in your years. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1884, American philosopher 3 likes |
 | Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment. — Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer 3 likes |
| Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed. — Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer 3 likes |
| It takes time to live. Like any work of art, life needs to be thought about. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 3 likes |
 | But men must know that in this theater of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on. — Francis Bacon, 1561-1626, English philosopher 3 likes |
 | This life is a hospital where each patient is possessed by the desire to change his bed. — Charles Baudelaire, 1821-1867, French poet 3 likes |
 | The great art of life is how to turn the surplus life of the soul into life for the body. — Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862, American writer 3 likes |
| The difference between a good life and a bad life is how well you walk through the fire. — Karl Jung, 1875-1961, Swiss psychiatrist 3 likes |
 | There's an old saying, 'Life begins at forty.' That's silly. Life begins every morning you wake up. — George Burns, 1896-1996, American comedian 3 likes |
| The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 3 likes |
| True life lies in laughter, love and work. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 3 likes |
 | You don't even live once. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 3 likes |
| There are two lives, the natural and the spiritual, and we must lose the one before we can participate in the other. — William James, 1842-1910, American philosopher 3 likes |
 | In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life — It goes on. — Robert Frost, 1874-1963, American poet 3 likes |
| Life is balance of holding on and letting go. — Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian mystic & poet 3 likes |
 | One cannot build life from refrigerators, politics, credit statements and crossword puzzles. That is impossible. Nor can one exist for any length of time without poetry, without color, without love. — Antoin de Saint-Exupéry, 1900-1940, French writer 3 likes |
 | That it will never come again is what makes life sweet. — Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886, American poet 3 likes |
 | Man does not have one and the same life; he has several lifes placed end to end, and that is his misery. — François-René de Chateaubriand, 1768-1848, French poet & politician 3 likes |
 | Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful. — George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925 3 likes |
| Life is a solitary cell whose walls are mirrors. — Eugene O’Neill, 1888-1953, American playwright, Nobel 1936 2 likes |
 | Life is surprising, a lot of unexpected things can happen to you. Small, not big ones. — Eugene Ionesco, 1912-1994, French-Romanian playwright 2 likes |
 | Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops. — Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007, American writer 2 likes |
 | My life is as if you've hit me with it. — Fernando Pessoa, 1888-1935, Portuguese poet & writer 2 likes |
| Life is an effort that deserves a better cause. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 2 likes |
 | One doesn't recognize the really important moments in one's life until it's too late. — Agatha Christie, 1890-1976, British writer 2 likes |
| Life is like a parachute jump, you've got to get it right the first time. — Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962, Wife of the 32nd USA president 2 likes |
 | Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together… — Charles Dickens, 1812-1870, British writer 2 likes |
 | To be alive at all is to have scars. |
 | Life is little more than a loan shark: It exacts a very high rate of interest for the few pleasures it concedes. |
| Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. |
 | Our life is made by the death of others. |
 | I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end. |
 | We come from a dark abyss; we end up in a dark abyss; the bright space in between is called Life. |
| Our life is just a flash. Still, we have time. |
 | Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum. |
 | The goal in life is to discover that you’ve always been where you were supposed to be. |
 | Don’t be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life. |
| There are but three events in a man's life: birth, life and death. He is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live. |
 | The reason life is so strange is that so often people have no choice. |
 | One can fool life for a long time, but in the end it always makes us what we were intended to be. |
 | Life is a continued struggle to be what we are not, and to do what we cannot. |
 | It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it’s called Life. |
 | Wrong life cannot be lived rightly. |
 | What was Aristotle’s life?’ Well, the answer lay in a single sentence: ‘He was born, he thought, he died.’ And all the rest is pure anecdote. |
 | Survival is the second law of life. The first is that we are all one. |
| 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. |
 | There is only one difference between a long life and a good dinner: that, in the dinner, the sweets come last. |
| Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. |
 | The first and the most important thing is to know that life is one and immortal. Only the forms, countless in number, are transient and brittle. The life everlasting is independent of any form but manifests itself in all forms. Life then does not die... but the forms are dissolved. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
| Life is life –whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
 | The greatest service that we can render to a being: to teach him very early to know how to use life. |
| There is only one immortality that would be worth wishing for: it is that of life. |
 | Life has no plot. It is by far more interesting than anything you can say about it. |
 | But better die than live mechanically a life that is a repetition of repetitions. |
 | All life was a breath exhaled by God. All dying was a breath inhaled by God. |
 | Any life, however long and complicated it may be, actually consists of a single moment: the moment when a man knows forever more who he is. |
 | Life, as it is called, is for most of us one long postponement. |
| Surely every one realizes, at some point along the way, that he is capable of living a far better life than the one he has chosen. |
 | Life is just a short period of time in which you are alive. |
| How easy life is when it’s easy, and how hard when it’s hard. |
 | Our life is a book to which we add daily, until suddenly we are finished, and then the manuscript is burned. |
| Life is a long lesson in humility. |
 | To me, if life boils down to one thing, it’s movement. To live is to keep moving. |
 | Life is too important to be taken as a joke, but too ridiculous to be taken seriously. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-, British cartoonist & epigrammatist |
| Life can be very deep, but I'm trying to stay at the shallow end. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-, British cartoonist & epigrammatist |
| My life so far has been a long series of things I wasn't ready for. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-, British cartoonist & epigrammatist |
| Life has its own hidden forces which you can only discover by living. |
 | Life is half spent before we know what it is. |
 | We must do our lives as we do a work of art. The life of a spiritual man is his work. True superiority is all there. |
 | Man reaches each stage of his life as a novice. |
 | It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome. |
| We live as we dream - alone. While the dream disappears, the life continues painfully. |
 | You have to die a few times before you can really live. |
 | Life is a warfare against the malice of others. |
 | Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. |
| Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. |
Latin Quotes
 | Art is long, life is short. Ars longa, vita brevis. — Hippocrates, 460-370 BC, Ancient Greek physician, the “Father of Medicine” 85 likes |
 | Life is not about living, but to live a good life. Vita non est vivere, sed valera vita est. — Martial, 43-104 AD, Roman poet of epigrams 81 likes |
 | Life is one long struggle in the dark. Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret. — Lucretius, 98-55 BC, Roman poet 61 likes |
 | Life is in motion. Vita in motu. — Sundial motto 53 likes |
| Life flows away as it seems to stay the same. Sic vita fluit, dum stare videtur. — Medieval Sundial motto 19 likes |
Quotes in Verse
 | My whole life is a cigarette that I don’t like and, still, I smoke it. — Akis Panou, 1933-2000, Greek folk song writer 6 likes |
 | Love the life you live. live the life you love. — Bob Marley, 1945-1981, Jamaican singer 3 likes |
| To be alive – is Power. |
Funny Quotes
 | Mondays are fine. It’s your life that sucks. — Ricky Gervais, 1961-, British comedian & screenwriter 8 likes |
| Everything has been figured out, except how to live. — Jean-Paul Sartre, 1905-1980, French philosopher 7 likes |
 | I intend to live forever. So far, so good. — Steven Wright, 1955-, American comedian 6 likes |
| Strange as it may seem, my life is based on a true story. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-, British cartoonist & epigrammatist 5 likes |
Non-English Quotes
 | Mon métier et mon art, c'est vivre. My trade and my art is living. — Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592, French thinker 2 likes |
Ancient Greek
 | Like in a statue, all parts of a life must be beautiful. Του βίου καθάπερ αγάλματος πάντα τα μέρη καλά είναι δει. — Socrates, 469-399 BC, Ancient Geek Philosopher 81 likes |
| Life without enquiry is not worth living for a man. O δε ανεξέταστος βίος ου βιωτός ανθρώπω. — Socrates, 469-399 BC, Ancient Geek Philosopher 62 likes |
 | We live, not as we wish to, but as we can. Ζώμεν γαρ ού ως θέλομεν, αλλ’ ως δυνάμεθα. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 48 likes |
| Life is short and Art long; the opportunity fleeting, experience deceitful, and judgment difficult. Ο βίος βραχύς, η δε τέχνη μακρή, ο δε καιρός οξύς, η δε πείρα σφαλερή, η δε κρίσις χαλεπή. — Hippocrates, 460-370 BC, Ancient Greek physician, the “Father of Medicine” (the first phrase in the “Aphorisms”) 46 likes |
 | Life is short. Βραχύς αιών. — Euripides, 480-406 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian ‐ Bacchae 37 likes |
| How sweet is life when fortune is not envious. Ως ηδύ το ζην μη φθονούσης της τύχης. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 29 likes |
| Nobody lives the life he chooses to live. Βιοί γαρ ουδείς ον προαιρείται βίον. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 29 likes |
 | The measure of life is its beauty not its length. Μέτρον βίου το καλόν ου το του χρόνου μήκος. — Plutarch, 47-120 AD, Ancient Greek historian 27 likes |
 | The art of life is more like the wrestler's art than the dancer's, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected. Η βιωτική τῃ παλαιστικᾑ ομοιοτέρα ήπερ τῃ ορχηστικᾑ κατά το προς τα εμπίπτοντα και ού προεγνωσμένα έτοιμος και απτώς εστάναι. — Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 AD, Roman Emperor ‐ Meditations VII, 61 18 likes |
 | The human life is governed by nature and laws. Άπας ό βίος των ανθρώπων φύσει και νόμοις διοικείται. — Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 16 likes |
Proverbs
 | Life is like an onion, which one peels crying. 7 likes |
Special Quotes
 | Have you met life today? — Slogan of MetLife 2 likes |
Movie Quotes
 | Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary. — from the film Dead Poets Society (1989) 5 likes |
 | You see, George. You really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away? — from the film It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) 5 likes |
 | Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving! — from the film Frankenstein (1931) 5 likes |
 | That's what makes me sad: life is so different from books. I wish it were the same: clear, logical, organized. — from the film Pierrot le Fou (1965) 4 likes |
 | This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time. — from the film Fight Club (1999) 2 likes |
 | My Mama always said, “Life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get”. — from the film Forrest Gump (1994) 2 likes |
