Cormac McCarthy Quotes

The money, the fame, if that comes, that's fantastic. But at the end of the day, my aim is to go to sleep at night content and have a purpose, and to know that I'm not swapping my life for money and some mind-numbing boring job, making easy money and protecting my brain.

It's very important to me to love what I do. It was important to me to find a career that I truly enjoy. You can find something that sort of excites you, that's half the battle of life.

As my father used to tell me, the only true sign of success in life is being able to do for a living that which makes you happy.

Ever since I met [my wife], my life has been different. I have what I want. I have my Jewel in Millie.

I hope that in 5 years from now I'll be working and doing what makes me happy. Whatever that may be.

I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.

The goal isn't to be successful; it's to be happy. And so it doesn't matter if I'm doing things in New York or teaching high school or I drop it altogether and sell coffee. The goal is to be happy, and people and relationships are what makes you happy.

Instead of this fruitless debate about having it all, men and women should focus on what make us happy. Instead of comparing our lives with people we don't know who are making sacrifices we don't see, we should try to find the right balance between home and work life.

I have no regrets. I feel very grateful for the life that I had - you know, family I live with; and I've been doing work that I love, ever since I came to Nashville.

Life is too short to be doing work that doesn't make you feel happy and fulfilled. I'd rather wait for the right project, as opposed to just taking whatever is handed to me.

I had a great tennis career. I have no regrets. But to find peace with yourself, and to finally be with your family - I'm probably the happiest guy in the world.

I always believed no matter where you are, as long as you're doing what you love doing, you're going to be happy.

I can't imagine anything more worthwhile than doing what I most love. And they pay me for it.

Find your passion is in life, and do what you can to integrate that into your work life. That's not to say you won't have occasional frustrations in your job - that just goes with the territory - but at least you'll feel better inside, and that, over time, will mean more to you than you might think.

What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come.

I love what I do, I can't imagine doing anything else, but ultimately, my goal is to be happy and have a family. That's my life.

I don't know anyone that says, 'Boy, I had a great career, and I'm happy because I screwed up my life outside of my career, my family life.' There's no one that feels that way.

I'm happy with my career.

Money will not make you happy. It's most important that you need to be happy. You need to do something you want to do.

I am happy with my career.

Other people want a career or success because they think that will help them find their personal life somewhere. I've done it the other way around. What I have is what everybody else is looking for. I know I've got it made. I know I'm a very lucky man. That came first. Then the music and the career just kind of took care of themselves.

I find more and more, as time goes on, these people I meet, they are starting to become these people I look up to more and more. Like Julianne Moore, also, on Crazy Stupid Love: kids, husband, priorities straight. Or Woody Harrelson's like that. Those are the people I really admire, and that's success to me: being able to balance that life and not buy into it. And do the work that you want to do and makes you happy, because you're lucky enough to do it. But if I never got a role again, I've got this incredible life.

Love and work... work and love, that's all there is.

I think about the work I've landed, and I think to myself, 'If I never land a job again, I could still die happy.'

P is positive emotion, E is engagement, R is relationships, M is meaning and A is accomplishment. Those are the five elements of what free people chose to do. Pretty much everything else is in service of one of or more of these goals. That's the human dashboard.