Eric Liu Quotes

Surely there comes a time when counting the cost and paying the price aren't things to think about any more. All that matters is value - the ultimate value of what one does.

Nothing in life is more exhilarating than fighting for something larger than you.

A man with nothing to die for has even less for which to live.

The value of life is not in its duration, but in its donation.

Life has meaning for anyone who takes an interest in it.

Do you serve a purpose, or purposely serve?

Dying for something is easy because it is associated with glory. Living for something is the hard thing. Living for something extends beyond fashion, glory, or recognition. We live for what we believe.

To give life a meaning, one must have a purpose larger than self.

What we all have to know is the struggle is long. It's long. It may not end in our lifetimes. But the struggle is what gives our lives meaning and purpose. I tell people to take time out of activism every day to take care of their bodies, to take care of their souls and spirits.

Life has value only when it has something valuable as its object.

We start dying when we have nothing worth living for. And we don't really start living until we find something worth dying for

If you don't live a life in service of a greater good, you've gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good, you know? And I fear that I won't get either a life or a death that means anything.

As the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: survival for what? Ever more people have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.

I want to be a fighter. So fight for something! Not for money.

What do you live for? Would you die for it?

Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on.

But a society that has nothing to die for has nothing to live for . . .

Life isn't worth living until you have found something worth dying for.

One need ask only 'What for? What am I to unify my being for?' The reply is: Not for my own sake.

It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.

When you know your reason for existence, it should effect the decisions you make.

I have to have a meaning in my life. If I roam around without some meaning in my life, I'm in deep and serious trouble. I can't, I just can't exist.

There's a big confusion in this country over what we want versus what we need," Morrie said. "You need food, you want a chocolate sundae. You have to be honest with yourself. You don't need the latest sports car, you don't need the biggest house. The truth is, you don't get satisfaction from those things. You know what really gives you satisfaction?...Offering others what you have to give...I don't mean money, Mitch. I mean your time. Your concern. Your storytelling. It's not so hard.

Lifting our cup means sharing our life so we can celebrate it. When we truly believe we are called to lay down our lives for our friends, we must dare to take the risk to let others know what we are living.

Everyone needs a hobby, he said. And everyone needs a miracle or two, just to prove life is more than just one long trudge from the cradle to the grave.