Phil Ochs Quotes

We want to answer this classical question, who am I? So I think that most of our works are for art, or whatever we do, including science or religion, tried to answer that question.

There had to be something else out there that would help me change. I wanted to live.

It is wrong to expect a reward for your struggles. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life.

To exist is a habit I do not despair of acquiring.

I think you need to go through some stuff to really appreciate life and understand what it means to persevere, overcome and have faith. I think those tough times make you a stronger person.

I have come to the conclusion that the most important element in human life is faith.

True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.

Life is essentially a question of values.

My life is a beautiful struggle.

The way I see things, the way I see life, I see it as a struggle. And there's a great deal of reward I have gained coming to that understanding - that existence is a struggle.

When I sit down to write a novel, I am exploring my own relationship with God, with the struggle between good and evil, my own purpose.

Well, I'm still breathing.

Life is full of happiness and tears; be strong and have faith.

I am simply trying to struggle through life; trying to do God's bidding.

You have to fall. You have to understand what that feels like. For what I want in my life, and for where I want to go with this music, you gotta be humiliated, man. You gotta understand what that feels like. It just makes you stronger.

When you think of it, really there are four fundamental questions of life. You've asked them, I've asked them, every thinking person asks them. They boil down to this; origin, meaning, morality and destiny. 'How did I come into being? What brings life meaning? How do I know right from wrong? Where am I headed after I die?'

Genuine religion is not about speculating about God or the soul or about what happened in the past or will happen in the future; it cares only about one thing—finding out exactly what should or should not be done in this lifetime.

The thing I always try to hold onto with 'BoJack' and with 'Flaked' is that maybe there is a sliver of hope that they are going to turn it around. They are just having a tough time getting there. And that's the thing with 'BoJack' - he is obviously depressed.

Without faith, I don't think I'd be here.

Themes of redemption, temptation, and faith don't necessarily apply directly to religion. A lot of people find faith in their lives outside of God and still deal with notions of temptation and redemption that aren't religious.

As an artist, what I'm looking for isn't the answers but the questions. Art saved my life, and I'm sure that it could save the lives of many people. If it's not art, find your place. But never give up.

We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.

That is why he is a Warrior of the Light, because he has been through all this and yet has never lost hope of being better than he is.

Lessons of Life: When you stop yearning, When you stop aspiring. You stop living.

It is the measure of my individual struggle from darkness toward some measure of light.