Meaningful Living Quotes

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.

Intentional living is the bridge to significance. At the end of every year, I take time out to reflect and evaluate the events of the previous year - what went well and what needed improvement. From that inventory, I lay out my next year - how I intend to live, make the best use of time and maximize adding value to others. Success asks, 'How can I add value to myself?' Significance asks, 'How can I add value to others?' It is your intention that lends itself to significance.

Whoever wants music instead of noise, joy instead of pleasure, soul instead of gold, creative work instead of business, passion instead of foolery, finds no home in this trivial world of ours.

Don't let making a living prevent you from making a life.

A good peace, a solid peace, a peace in which communities can flourish, can only be built when we ask ourselves and each other to be more than just good, and better than just strong. And a good life, a meaningful life, a life in which we can enjoy the world and live with purpose, can only be built if we do more than live for ourselves.

I'm still a horse that can run. I may not be able to win the Derby, but what do you do when you retire? People retire and they vegetate. They go away and they dry up.

We do not live so that we can eat, nor do we just eat so that we can live. Life is worth living in and of itself. Life cannot be satisfied when it is lived out as a consuming entity. When it is filled by that which satisfies a hunger that is both physical and spiritual in a mutuality that sustains both without violation of either, only then can life be truly fulfilling.

Facing your own mortality forces you to re-evaluate your priorities.

Forget purpose. It’s okay to be happy without one. The quest for a single purpose has ruined many lives.

What has validity is your living, not what happens tomorrow.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

The last thing I want is for people to go through the motions in life. We're all meant to do different things, but there's a lot of opportunity for us to do some great things.

The reason of my life is not to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

Life is too short to waste on things that don't matter.

I'm not afraid to die. But I'm afraid to not live.

I think I value things more correctly. I hope I look at my life in a way that makes sense.

If life is worth living then it's worth recording.

But it’s only by having some distance from the world that you can see it whole, and understand what you should be doing with it.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

Life is too short to waste time on things that have no lasting significance.

Maybe I was blessed that my main drive was purely selfish. I needed to make something, make my life better, wider, have poetry in my life, have something that gives me hope on an everyday basis. That was my main drive all along, really.

This Life is More than Just a read through.

Somewhere there's a score being kept, so you have an obligation to live life as well as you can, be as engaged as you can.

We live not by things, but by the meaning of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords from generation to generation.