Existentialism Life Quotes

if you don't have much soul left and you know it, you still got soul. ~ Charles Bukowski

I haven't had any adventures. Things have happened to me, events, incidents, anything you like. But not adventures. It isn't a matter of words; I am beginning to understand. There is something I longed for more than all the rest - without realizing it properly. It wasn't love, heaven forbid, nor glory, nor wealth. It was…anyway, I had imagined that at certain moments my life could take on a rare and precious quality. There was no need for extraordinary circumstances: all I asked for was a little order. There is nothing very splendid about my life at present: but now and then, for example when they played music in the cafés, I would l look back and say to myself: in the old days, in London, Meknés, Tokyo, I have known wonderful moments, I have had adventures. It is that which has been taken away from me now. I have just learnt, all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, that I have been lying to myself for ten years. Adventures are in books. And naturally, everything they tell you about in books can happen in real life, but not in the same way. It was to this way of happening that I attached so much importance. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

They are so very cultivated, so very rich and so utterly charming. At the end of each day, they all ask themselves: 'Is it time I stopped?' And they all reply: 'If I did, there would be no meaning to my life.'
As if they actually knew what the meaning of life was. ~ Paulo Coelho

A person experiences anxiety when they realize their insignificance in the cosmic field, which present state of angst can exacerbated by other confusing life questions. ~ Kilroy J. Oldster

I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth. ~ Umberto Eco

No drugs here, no manipulation of neurotransmitters that leaves our worldly problems unattended. And no talking cures because explicit insight is not needed. All that is required is courage: the courage to encounter discomfort and stay with it long enough to be changed by it, strengthened. ~ Jason Dias

All that is transitory is but a metaphor. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Truth has no continuity. It is the mind that wants to make the experience which it calls truth continuous, and such a mind shall not know truth. Truth is always new; it is to see the same smile, and see that smile newly, to see the same person, and see that person anew, to see the waving palms anew, to meet life anew. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

There is no reality except in action. Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression - and with all this yet to die. ~ Ernest Becker

Biology is run by intricate cellular mechanisms. Cellular mechanisms are run by Nature. Thus, the more we attempt to understand Nature, the more we get closer to our existential properties. ~ Abhijit Naskar

So we must run back and forth between these two suns in our firmament - the presentiment of death and awareness of life - and avoid being transfixed by either of them. If we are lucky in this uncertain middle distance, we may form attachments and projects that enhance the sentiment of life. However, even as we try our luck, death comes to us, and brings our experiment to a end. ~ Roberto Mangabeira Unger

I've whittled my fascination with the cosmos down to this mantra: we can imagine the Universe as a giant void racing away from us at a frightening speed, or it could occur to us that, in fact, it is wrapped around us in all directions. Then, no matter where we are, we are at the centre of something wonderful. And that's how I've always thought about it. ~ Sean J Halford

A person's life is a glint and oftentimes the climax is incalculably brutal. ~ Kilroy J. Oldster

Does love always form, like a pearl, around the hardened bits of life? ~ Andrew Sean Greer

In this atmosphere of wintry desolation and isolation, this slowly, very slowly increasing chill, my hands and lips started to freeze. Had I extinguished the sun? Had I killed the heart of all life? ~ Hermann Hesse

The powerful questions of life produce a dynamic dualism, which interplay creates the operatic structure that we must operate. Can the flesh and spirit coexist? Can inner despair and renewed optimism reside under the same roof? Can we harness humankind's wretchedness in order to broker its salvation? Should all people seek out perfection or work to accept their fallibility? Should I eschew pain or embrace suffering? Do I cave into the meaningless of my life or actively rebel against the patent absurdity of human existence? ~ Kilroy J. Oldster

We are born from a quiet sleep, and we die to a calm awakening ~ Zhuangzi

Mother used to say that however miserable one is, there's always something to be thankful for. And each morning, when the sky brightened and light began to flood my cell, I agreed with her. ~ Albert Camus

What are all the thoughts rattling in your mind when you're not listening to the answers to questions you ask?
-Jo, Boom ~ Peter Sinn Nachtrieb

Life is rather a short walk through eternity. Be they seeds, pups or infants, on the trek all pick up weight, sensitivity and awareness. Then, much before the end of the run, they deteriorate, head, legs and lungs. The tragicomedy of existence: the long walk of slow decay. ~ Dagobert D. Runes

Say not: I live today, I shall die tomorrow. Divide not reality between life and death. Say: now I live and die. ~ Marcel Schwob

The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the self-denial that mars our lives. ~ Oscar Wilde

There are, as is known, insects that die in the moment of fertilization. So it is with all joy: life's highest, most splendid moment of enjoyment is accompanied by death. ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Death is a continuation of my life without me... ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

All she had to do was make the simplest of gestures - open her hands and let go her hold. She lifted one hand and moved the fingers of it; they responded, in surprise and obedience, and this obedience of a thousand little unsuspected muscles was in itself a miracle. Why ask for more? ~ Simone De Beauvoir

I wanted to explain myself to myself in an understandable way. I gave shape to my fears and made excuses. I varied my velocities, watched myselves sleep. Something's not right about what I'm doing but I'm still doing it-- living in the worst parts, ruining myself. My inner life is a sheet of black glass. If I fell through the floor I would keep falling.
The enormity of my desire disgusts me. ~ Richard Siken

I wonder if being sane means disregarding the chaos that is life, pretending only an infinitesimal segment of it is reality. ~ Rabih Alameddine

Sooner or later we all lose our loved ones. We all have to suffer, every last one of us. ~ Tom Perrotta

As people move through life, passing from the hopeful ignorance of youth into sobering adulthood, they inevitably face an increasingly nagging question: Is this all there is? Childhood can be painful, adolescence confusing; most people, expect that in adulthood things will get better. During the early years of adulthood the future still looks promising. But inevitably the mirror' shows the first white hairs and confirms the fact that those few extra pounds are not about to leave; eyesight begins to fail and mysterious pains begin to shoot through the body...' Where's all that money I was to have made? Where are all of the good times I was going to have? ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

If you've never shot a gun,
You can't understand
how it feels in your hands.
Cool to the touch, all its venom
coiled inside, deadly,
like a steel-scaled serpent. Awaiting your bidding.
You select it's prey… paper,
tin, or flesh. You lie in wait,
learn that patience is the killer's
most trustworthy accomplice.
You choose the moment. What. Where. When. Decided.
But the how is everything.
You lift your weapon,
ease it into place, cock it,
to load it, knowing the
satisfying snitch means a bullet is yours to command.
Now, make or break,
it's all up to you. You
aim knowing a hair either
way means bull's-eye or miss.
Success or failure. Life or death.
You have to relax,
convince your muscles
not to be tense, not to betray
you. Sight again. Adjust.
Don't become distracted by the heat of the hunt.
Instincts take over.
You shoot and adrenaline
screams as your target shreds
or the flesh drops. And for
one indescribable moment you are God. ~ Ellen Hopkins

First Heart Beats for Love, Second Heart Beats for Life ~ Santosh Avvannavar

The Gospel of Life is not for believers alone: it is for everyone. The issue of life and its defense and promotion is not a concern of the Christian alone. Although faith provides special light and strength, this question arises in every human conscience which seeks the truth and which cares about the future of humanity. Life certainly has a sacred and religious value, but in no way is that value a concern only of believers. The value at stake is one which every human being can grasp by the light of reason; thus it necessarily concerns everyone. ~ Pope John Paul II

Never question yourself to satisfy the comfort of those living blindly by the false masks of life. ~ Nikki Rowe

The proof or validation of genuine conversion is that the one who professes faith in Christ perseveres in that faith and grows in sanctification throughout the full course of his life. If a person professes faith in Christ and yet falls away or makes no progress in godliness, it does not mean that he has lost his salvation. It reveals that he was never truly converted. ~ Paul David Washer

Relationships, not achievements or the acquisition of things, are what matters most in life. ~ Rick Warren

Most of our life we pass by waiting for tomorrow, but not living for today. ~ Debasish Mridha

If suffering is ubiquitous in life, the withdrawal from and avoidance of suffering is accordingly the withdrawal from and avoidance of life. You ~ Kelly G. Wilson

God gave me a brain to see in others what they can't see in themselves. I use that gift to help others actualize dreams they maybe never knew they had.⁣ ~ Richie Norton

I think that too many strangers were in Nina Simone life, and not enough people that she knew and loved. ~ Nikki Giovanni

Our object in life should be to accumulate a great number of grand questions to be asked and resolved in eternity ... ~ Norman Foster

It made the difference between my life and death. ~ Suzanne Collins

Sometimes by holding onto what you love the most - you end up choking the very life from the thing you want to keep on living. It's possible to try too hard, to love something so deeply that you lose yourself. The danger is never in loving someone - but losing your identity in the process. Because what happens when tragedy strikes? You're left an empty shell. You're left with nothing. ~ Rachel Van Dyken

Reading is such a huge part of my life. ~ Veronica Roth

If we're going to live an ethical life, it's not enough just to follow the thou-shalt-nots. ... If we have enough, we have to share some of that with people who have so little. ~ Peter Singer

I always had that yearning, that hunger, to one day be independent and be my own person and build my own world. The most fulfilling thing is to live a life where you have freedom. ~ Michelle Phan

Time is the only commodity in life that cannot be bought, sold, borrowed, given out as a gift and it cannot be inherited. ~ Sunday Adelaja

Calling in the Bible is a central and dynamic theme that becomes a metaphor for the life of faith itself. ~ Os Guinness

A door shuts in my face, but my face is already looking at another door, wondering when that one will close too and how many good things I would have gotten out of it when it does. ~ Innocent Mwatsikesimbe

Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such ~ Henry Miller

As a way of life, a middle path is an ongoing task of responsiveness and risk, grounded on a groundless ground. Its twists and turns are as turbulent and unpredictable as life itself. ~ Stephen Batchelor

I was raised on a family farm in western Minnesota. So I didn't have the background to prepare me for this business life. ~ Glen Taylor

Careful practical work is the best expression of our freedom and safeguard of our sanity. In a healthy society, such work is the means most consistently available for people to practice holiness of life, to imitate God's enabling and sustaining care for the world. ~ Ellen F. Davis

I just love Bayonne. I love the parks. I love the pizzerias. I love the simple things in life, and it's all here. ~ Tammy Blanchard

No one else understands us 7th sense people. They regard us as freaks. When we point out illiterate mistakes, we are often aggressively instructed to 'get a life' by people who, interestingly, display no evidence of having lives themselves. ~ Lynne Truss

You all seem to think you should marry someone when you feel this intense emotion, which you call love. And then you expect the love will fade over time, as life gets harder. When what you should do is find yourself a nice enough fellow and let real love develop over years and births and deaths and so on. ~ J. Courtney Sullivan

Drama and comedy are the polite genres, founded on collectively agreed-upon ideas, perceptions and truths. But life, as subjectively experienced, is not like comedy or drama; it is much more disorganized and grand, intimidating and embarrassing. It is much more like opera and farce. Opera shows how we really feel at our most pained or selfish or exultant, and farce reveals how we receive the world in its raw, unsifted form. Or to put it another way, opera is how we really feel about ourselves. Farce is how we really feel about strangers. And both genres tell the true story of life as it is lived.

The Piano Teacher, neither comedy nor drama, was both opera and farce, with Huppert as both diva and farceuse. Throughout, Huppert believes and gives passionately, and yet stands back, in full awareness. Life is more than we think, bigger but also ridiculous. ~ Mick LaSalle

Books never pall on me. They discourse with us, they take counsel with us, and are united to us by a certain living chatty familiarity. And not only does each book inspire the sense that it belongs to its readers, but it also suggests the name of others, and one begets the desire of the other. ~ Petrarch

The bottom line is: if you were a jerk in your original life, you're probably going to be a bigger undead jerk, If you were a decent person, say a juvenile-services librarian with a secret collection of unicorn figurines, you're probably going to be a kinder, gentler vampire. ~ Molly Harper

I love dive bars, old movie theaters, live music and good food. The simplest things in life for me are the most important. ~ Tanya Fischer

Pain is the result of ignorance. ~ Maliheh Sadat Razavi

We all crave for true love and genune friend in our lives. What we fail to realize, how true and genune we have been to others in life. When we begin to give uncondional love and support to others, True & genune friends will be knocking your door ~ Victor

Beyond a hundred years even generating a basic scenario for individual life or society becomes difficult, let alone extending compassion across much greater reaches of time towards the unborn inhabitants of worlds-to-be. As a species, we have proved to be good historians but poor futurologists. ~ Robert Macfarlane

Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life ... ~ Hozier

As we sail in the voyage of life,
the love and joy we shared count more than anything else.
Let them feel the rhythm of our heart,
share them the music of our soul,
for a meaningful, fulfilling moments of today,
for a hopeful, promising and joyful tomorrow ~ Angelica Hopes

Most of our life is miscommunication, and when you add a language barrier to it, it just becomes total mayhem and confusion. It just adds to it with all of the cultural differences. It could be an American family meeting another American family and you could still have a total clash. With family, it's like visiting another planet. ~ Julie Delpy