Conor Oberst Quotes

Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.

I think that obviously humans find it very difficult to believe that there is no there there. So they created these stories and myths to give their lives some meaning.

Although it is a gloomy view to suppose that life will die out, sometimes when I contemplate the things that people do with their lives I think it is almost a consolation

Life belongs to man, but the meaning of life is beyond him.

To be human is to keep rattling the bars of the cage of existence, hollering, 'What's it for?'

Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning.

The average man does not know what to do with this life, yet wants another one which will last forever.

At the heart of life lies a mystery that everybody has to wrestle with. What the heck are we doing here? How does this world work, and how do I fit?

What is life about? Two things: love and death.

I believe it doesn't matter what it is, as long as you can find something concrete to keep you busy while you are living your meaningless life.

I'm trying to figure things out in the world. No one knows what this life thing is all about - there's no manual. Just trying to figure it out.

How much change can a person absorb before everything loses meaning Living for its own sake isn't life. People need meaning as much as they need air.

The world was not meant to be a prison in which man awaits his execution.

If a man knew how to live he would never die.

If one has a purpose, life is bearable enough, do you not think so?

Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand.

The purpose that you wish to find in life, like a cure you seek, is not going to fall from the sky. ...I believe purpose is something for which one is responsible; it's not just divinely assigned.

The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning.

I continue to believe that this world has no ultimate meaning. But I know that something in it has a meaning and that is man, because he is the only creature to insist on having one

Thou madest man, he knows not why, he thinks he was not made to die.

We all die at the end, but does that nullify everything? Would most people rather say, "I wish I hadn't been born?" Once you're born you'll have to die, now is that funny or sad?

I'm sure that inside your heart... you're trying with all your might to find it on your own... the reason you were born. Because... because really... there might not be anyone who was born with a reason. I think that everyone... everyone might have to find one on their own. [in her head] A reason for being born... A reason that it's okay to be alive... A reason to exist. [aloud] I think everyone might have to find it themselves... and decide it for themselves. It could be your dreams... your job... or a person... The reason you're looking for... might be vague, unclear... and uncertain. [in her head] And you might lose it. [aloud] But as long as you're alive... you have to keep searching for that reason.

Man's greatest concern is to know how he shall properly fill his place in the universe and correctly understand what he must be in order to be a man.

No thinking being lives who, at some luminous point of his life of thought, has not felt himself lost amid the surges of futile efforts at understanding, or believing, that anything exists greater than his own soul.

I finally did not understand if we are living to survive or we are living to die!