LIFE QUOTES XXXVII

quotations about life

Life is magical. There is something wonderful in being alive, in having within one's self all sorts of possibilities.

ARTHUR LYNCH

Moods of Life


Our life a harp is, with unnumbered strings,
And tones and symphonies; but our poor skill
Some shallow notes from its great music brings.

JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY

"Dolores"

Tags: John Boyle O'Reilly


Who fears death does not enjoy life.

SPANISH PROVERB


I don't know why life isn't constructed to be seamless and safe, why we make such glaring mistakes, things fall so short of our expectations, and our hearts get broken and our kids do scary things and our parents get old and don't always remember to put pants on before they go out for a stroll. I don't know why it's not more like it is in the movies, why things don't come out neatly and lessons can't be learned when you're in the mood for learning them, why love and grace often come in such motley packaging.

ANNE LAMOTT

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith


Life? Bah! It has no value. Of cheap things it is the cheapest. Everywhere it goes begging. Nature spills it out with a lavish hand. Where there is room for one life, she sows a thousand lives, and it's life eats life till the strongest and most piggish life is left.

JACK LONDON

The Sea-Wolf


Life is reduced to a bunch of fights over territory.

KOBO ABE

The Ark Sakura

Tags: Kobo Abe


We had crossed from death into what certainly sounded like life. And not only did it sound like life, it looked like life; and not only did it look like life, it looked like a particular life, a life which was a particular reproach to me.

JAMES BALDWIN

Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone

Tags: James Baldwin


Life is a theatre of alarms and contentions.

CHARLES HORTON COOLEY

Human Nature and the Social Order

Tags: Charles Horton Cooley


It's a great time to be alive and talking about life. We just learned that geologists found what appear to be fossilized stromatolites in 3.7-billion-year-old rocks in Greenland. That suggests life popped up on Earth ridiculously soon after the planet formed. And last we learned about the discovery of a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our sun. Meanwhile we now know planets are common. Maybe the universe is simply throbbing with life!

JOEL ACHENBACH

"The 4 biggest milestones in the history of life on Earth", Albuquerque Journal, September 1, 2016


Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

Adonais

Tags: Percy Bysshe Shelley


For life, with all it yields of joy and woe,
And hope and fear (believe the aged friend),
Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love--
How love might be, hath been indeed, and is.

ROBERT BROWNING

A Death in the Desert


Tell someone you love them because life is short, but shout it in Klingon because life is also terrifying and confusing.

ANONYMOUS


Sounds of life and movement, people getting ready and people giving up, the sound of hope and the sound of hanging on, and behind them all, the quiet, deadly ticking of a thousand hungry clocks...

HUNTER S. THOMPSON

The Rum Diary

Tags: Hunter S. Thompson


Life is like a school; one can learn, one can graduate, one can skip a grade or stay behind.

ELIZABETH LESSER

The New American Spirituality: A Seeker's Guide

Tags: Elizabeth Lesser


Human life is a pilgrimage from the unknown to the unknown. No one knows whence he emanated or whither he is bound.

FEMI ABBAS

"A decade of royalty and faith", The Nation, September 2, 2016


Life, in a sense, is living and surviving. And all that makes for living and surviving is good. He who follows the fact cannot go astray, while he who has no reverence for the fact wanders afar.

JACK LONDON

The Kempton-Wace Letters


Life's generally artless ... but it does get these occasional hard-ons for plot. It connects things, nefariously, behind your back, and before you know it you're in the final act of a lousy movie.

GLEN DUNCAN

Talulla Rising


Life is a crucible. We are thrown into it, and tried.

E. H. CHAPIN

Living Words


I must not fall asleep in the middle of my life. Out of the blankness that surrounds me I must pluck the incident after incident after incident whose little explosions keep me going.

J. M. COETZEE

In the Heart of the Country

Tags: J. M. Coetzee


Life is a dance. To master it, we must master the rhythm of our lives.

MICHAEL MAMAS

"In the Rhythm of Life, Timing is Everything", Huffington Post, August 19, 2016