John B. Goodenough Quotes

Every person has a longing to be significant; to make a contribution; to be a part of something noble and purposeful.

If life only has the meaning you bring to it, we have the opportunity to bring rich meaning to our lives by the service we do for others.

Every character is asking: 'What's my place? Why am I here? I don't want the answer to be 'Just because.' You find your own purpose. Each finds the reason to be here and how to contribute.

But once I acclimated and really used fame for what it was offering me as a tool to serve my life purpose of inspiring and contributing, then it started to get fun again.

What is it to enjoy life? Sit at the beach? No. What it is is that you have to do something, you have be productive, make a contribution to the society, to the family, to yourself.

Hope and purpose in this world is living as best as you can and maybe having life that gives back. But simply giving back isn't purpose; it's a branch of purpose, but it is not the trunk or root of the tree.

The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.

It is the people who can do nothing who find nothing to do, and the secret to happiness in this world is not only to be useful, but to be forever elevating one's uses.

We're passing on something of ourselves to others. I feel that's what makes our life full of meaning. It's hard to have meaning in a closet, encapsulated by nothing. I think you really have to expand yourself and your life and do what you can for other people.

Most people would say the meaning of life is to make the world a little more beautiful, or nicer, or more interesting. But how? These days, our main answer to that is: through work.

I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part.

Knowledge about life is one thing; effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another.

I'm really clear about what my life mission is now. There's no more depression or lethargy, and I feel like I've returned to the athlete I once was. I'm integrating all the parts of me - jock, musician, writer, poet, philosopher - and becoming stronger as a result.

It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.

It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute... that gives meaning to our lives.

I advise women to live their life to their fullest, invest in who you want to be and live it well.

When I see people that are my age and reaching 50, the ones that are really sparkly and full of joy are the ones that are committed to something bigger than themselves.

All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don't discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.

There is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by the unfolding of his powers.

I think people get satisfaction from living for a cause that's greater than themselves. They want to leave an imprint. By writing books, I'm trying to do that in a modest way.

I don't want to make money; I want to make a difference.

Success, in a generally accepted sense of the term, means the opportunity to experience and to realize to the maximum the forces that are within us.

No man or woman is an island. To exist just for yourself is meaningless. You can achieve the most satisfaction when you feel related to some greater purpose in life, something greater than yourself.