Meaningful Pursuits Quotes

If you want your life to have impact, focus it! Stop dabbling. Stop trying to do it all. Do less. Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most. Never confuse activity with productivity. You can be busy without a purpose, but what's the point?

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits.

I must have something to engross my thoughts, some object in life which will fill this vacuum, and prevent this sad wearing away of the heart.

Passion is very important to me. If you stop enjoying things, you've got to look at it, because it can lead to all kinds of depressing scenarios.

Without love of something I don't know if you can have a meaningful life at all.

...the majority of people cannot endure the bareness and futility of their lives unless they have some ardent dedication, or some passionate pursuit in which they can lose themselves.

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

An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose.

Music is essentially useless, as is life.

You can't live for literature. You can't live for the job.

No amount of money can replace the kind of happiness and satisfaction I derive out of writing.

Finding something important in life does not mean that you must give up everything else.

I know, in my heart of hearts, I don't do things for money.

Is anything worth it?

I don't get fazed by things easily. I don't really care about much; I'm just not interested in a lot. I'm just interested in the well being of my close ones, my music, the message I'm portraying, how my efforts are contributing to society.

Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. We lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year's time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings.

People who get trapped in the tunnel vision of making money think that is all there is to life.

I don't think of my life as a career. I do stuff. I respond to stuff. That's not a career - it's a life!

The key to life is to become skillful enough to be able to do rewarding things.

You just hope that your kids find what they love to do and abide by the law and make good decisions. The best you can do is instill such values in them.

A couple of years ago, right before I made 'Down to You,' there was a moment when I questioned what I was doing and if it meant anything. I felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything, that the goals I'd set were silly goals. Finally, I realized I just loved acting. It was a very clear moment, and my whole life changed then.

If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.

We run after values that, at death, become zero. At the end of your life, nobody asks you how many degrees you have, or how many mansions you built, or how many Rolls Royces you could afford. That's what dying patients teach you.

There must be some part of Man that is more than his daily round. Some part of him that will use his profit on a matter of no profit.

Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.