Black river of torture, writhing senselessly, whirlpool of life, in vain I search thee for one moment's rest.
ELISE PUMPELLY CABOT, "Arizona"
When people say that they are happy with their lives, they do not usually mean that they are literally joyful, or experiencing pleasure, all the time. They mean that, upon reflection on the balance sheet of pleasures and pains, they feel the balance to be reasonably positive over the long term.
DANIEL NETTLE, Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile
We find that the more a cultivated reason devotes itself to the aim of enjoying life and happiness, the further does man get away from true contentment.
IMMANUEL KANT, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals
Life asks for a preparation as complete as we can afford; the great contest should be fought with spirit but with good temper always; we should never think the game lost while it is still going; and finally we should have the satisfaction of quitting the field able to say: I did my best.
ARTHUR LYNCH, Moods of Life
Life is everything. Life is God. Everything changes and moves and that movement is God. And while there is life there is joy in consciousness of the divine. To love life is to love God.
LEO TOLSTOY, War and Peace
- Yes, life is but a waste,
- A cheerless pathway, where
- No healthy fruit allures the taste,
- No flowerets balm the air,
- If Love, the wild rose, ne'er luxuriates there.
WILLIAM B. TAPPAN, "Love"
It is time to stop looking outside yourself for the answers to why you haven't created the life and results you want, for it is you who creates the quality of life you lead and the results you produce. You--no one else! To achieve major success in life--to achieve those things that are most important to you--you must assume 100% responsibility for your life. Nothing less will do.
JACK CANFIELD, The Success Principles
Success makes life easier. It doesn't make living easier.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, Q, August, 1992
We must rejoice when love is great, and pardon its excess, for love is the staff of life, and life without love is life in vain.
ARTHUR LYNCH, Moods of Life
He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
MUHAMMAD ALI, Woman's Day, Apr. 1, 2009
He who loveth, knoweth the inner sun; he see'th Life's blaze.
ELISE PUMPELLY CABOT, "Arizona"
Desire, both the whispers and the shouts, is the map we have been given to find the only life worth living.
Life is magical. There is something wonderful in being alive, in having within one's self all sorts of possibilities.
ARTHUR LYNCH, Moods of Life
