Mary Oliver Quotes

I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

I choose to fill my days with what I'm passionate about, and live with purpose.

For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment.

It was fun; you know, at this point in my life it's like, I want to do stuff that's meaningful.

Each of us must become impassioned, finding meaning and self-fulfillment in our own life's journey.

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

We must have a theme, a goal, a purpose in our lives. If you don't know where you're aiming, you don't have a goal. My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared.

The best path through life is the highway.

You have a deeper purpose that drives you. You have to talk to yourself about what that purpose is. If you run through like a hamster to chase fame or money, you might end up wasting your life away. You find what drives you and gives you energy.

If you're not having fun - I don't care what you're doing - don't do it. Move on. Find something else, life's too short.

Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.

For me, the magazine was always the heart of what my life was all about, and the other half was living the life.

Live, so you do not have to look back and say: 'God, how I have wasted my life.'

All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.

Not sure of my place in the world (still up for debate) and not sure what I wanted to do with my life (not really up for debate).

I have reached a place in my life where I need to sit down and say, 'Well, what do I do? What's best for me?' I need to look into options for the future.

I think essentially the meaning of life is probably the journey and not really any one thing or an outcome or a result.

I am waiting for a sign that will indicate to me what meaning I must give to my life, but right now my existence is satisfactory.

Be a life long or short, its completeness depends on what it was lived for.

My philosophy in life, where I was trying to get, could have been a little bit different.

Somehow I got the feeling at an early age that I had to do something important with my life.

We're here to live. We're here to do, we're here to be.

The first year I was in New York, I met Martha Graham. She said, 'Well, Mr. Wilson, what do you want to do in life?' I was 21 years old, and I said, 'I have no idea.' And she said, 'If you work long enough and hard enough, you'll find something.'

I don't do anything just for the sake of it. I don't live my life for the sake of it.

I think life is the sum total of your experiences.