Purpose and Passion

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.  ~ Carl Jung
 
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.  ~ Helen Keller

This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us; to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves; to act in such a way that some part of us lives on.  ~ Oswald Spengler

The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.  ~ William Cowper 

With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.  ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Quotes about purpose, life

An Attitude of the Heart

It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and another to hear. ~ H.D. Thoreau

If you spend more time asking appropriate questions rather than giving answers or opinions, your listening skills will increase. ~ Brian Koslow

Listening is the only way to entertain some folks. ~ Kin Hubbard

The older I grow the more I listen to people who don’t talk much. ~ Germain G. Glien

Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery. ~ Dr. Joyce Brothers

Listening is an attitude of the heart, a genuine desire to be with another which both attracts and heals.  ~ J. Isham 

Quotes about listening, life

Life is Fun or Suffering?

Fun is a good thing but only when it spoils nothing better.  ~ George Santayana

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.  ~ Katharine Hepburn

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.  ~ Dale Carnegie

The world is a funny paper read backwards. And that way it isn't so funny.  ~ Tennessee Williams

The making of fun where no real occasion for fun exists is essentially what comedy is about.  ~ David L. Hall

Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise.  ~ George Orwell 

Quotes about fun, life

The Best of Our Nature

Intimacy is being seen and known as the person you truly are.  ~ Amy Bloom

Man's life would be wretched and confined if it were to miss the candid intimacy developed by mutual trust and esteem.  ~ Edwin Dummer

Our most intimate friend is not the one to whom we show the worst, but the best of our nature.  ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

His voice was as intimate as the rustle of sheets.   ~ Dorothy Parker

Be polite to all, but intimate with few.   ~ Thomas Jefferson

Communication leads to community, that is, understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.  ~ Rollo May


Quotes about intimacy, life

That's All that Matters

Laughter has no foreign accent.  ~ Paul B. Lowney

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.  ~ Erma Bombeck

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.  ~ Victor Borge

Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart. 'Cause that's all that matters in the end.  ~ Kris Kristofferson

We look before and after,
And pine for what is not;
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell
Of saddest thought.  ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

Quotes about laughter, life

A Bizarre Sensation

It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we're alive - to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are.  ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Man is a make-believe animal: he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.  ~ William Hazlitt

Why not be oneself? That is the whole secret of a successful appearance. If one is a greyhound, why try to look like a Pekingese?  ~ Dame Edith Sitwell

Appearances are often deceiving.  ~ Aesop

A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense. No truth seems true. A simple morning's greeting and response appear loaded with innuendo and fraught with implications. Each nicety becomes more sterile and each withdrawal more permanent.  ~ Maya Angelou 

Quotes about pretense, life

Believe in Yourself

Just keep coming home to yourself. You are the one you’ve been waiting for.  ~ Byron Katie

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.  ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.  ~ Harvey Fierstein

It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.  ~ Dalai Lama

When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.  ~ Tecumseh

Quotes about yourself, life