What is Life's Purpose?
Most popular purpose of life quotes
I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
The heart says that there is "nothing to attain." We meditate not to attain enlightenment, because enlightenment is already in us. We don't have to search anywhere. We don't need a purpose or a goal. We don't practice in order to obtain some high position. In aimlessness, we see that we do not lack anything, that we already are what we want to become, and our striving just comes to a halt. We are at peace in the present moment.
The glory of God, and, as our only means to glorifying Him, the salvation of human souls, is the real business of life.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?
I am here only to be truly helpful.I am here to represent Him Who sent me. I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me. I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with me. I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal.
When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Study your skills, then, to reveal your assignment.
I am afraid that many among you are more concerned about making a living than making a life. You are prone to judge the success of your profession by the index of your salary and the size of the wheelbase on your automobile, rather than the quality of your service to humanity.
I still believe that standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end of life. The end of life is not to be happy. The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may.
Capitalism is always in danger of inspiring men to be more concerned about making a living than making a life. We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to humanity.
The purpose of life is not to be happy – but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all.
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.
As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
Life must be dedicated to a destiny in order to have meaning.
The purpose of a woman's life is just the same as the purpose of man's life – that she may make the best possible contribution to generations in which she is living.
If we have our own "why" of life, we can bear almost any "how."
What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else.
The biggest threat to our well-being is the absence of moral clarity and purpose.
The meaning of life cannot be told; it has to happen to a person.
It is easier to accept the message of the stars than the message of the salt desert. The stars speak of man's insignificance in the long eternity of time; the deserts speak of his insignificance right now.
There is a Buddhist teaching that might seem strange to you. This is the teaching of aimlessness (apranihita in Sanskrit ). Aimlessness means not setting an object or goal in front of you and running after it. That is exactly what everybody does. We want this, we want that, and as long as we haven't got it, we think happiness will be impossible. We must bring about a revolution in our thinking: we must stop. We must do as the flower does. The flower is aware of the fact that it contains everything within it, the whole cosmos, and it does not try to become something else. It is the same for you. You have God within you, so you do not have to look for God.
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
The purpose of life is a life of purpose.
Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how.
You will recognize your own path when you come upon it, because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need.
Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't.
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.
I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.
Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.
The wise don't expect lo find life worth living; they make it that way.
Our children may learn about the heroes of the past. Our task is to make ourselves the architects of the future.
I'd like to know what this whole show is about before it's out.
More than anything else, what keeps a person going in the midst of adversity is having a sense of purpose. It is the fuel that powers persistence.
It concerns us to know the purposes we seek in life, for then, like archers aiming at a definite mark, we shall be more likely to attain what we want.
An aim in life is the only fortune worth the finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands, but in the heart itself.
When the soul is without a definite aim, she gets lost; for, as they say, if you are everywhere you are nowhere.
Aim at being loved without being admired.
To have his path made clear for him is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence.
Let the youthful soul look back on life with the question: what have you truly loved up to now, what has drawn your soul aloft, what has mastered it and at the same time blessed it?
For this is the journey that men make: to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn't matter much what else they find: Money, position, fame, many loves, revenge are all of little consequence, and when the tickets are collected at the end of the ride they are tossed into the bin marked FAILURE.
A life directed chiefly toward the fulfillment of personal desires will sooner or later always lead to bitter disappointment.
The one way to get thin is to re-establish a purpose in life.
There is nothing quite as potent as a focused life, one lived on purpose.
The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.
The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to know how to live to purpose.
Patience and tenacity of purpose are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.
Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.
They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pitying, all of which are indications of weakness.
A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought-forces upon the object which he has set before him. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought.
Purpose is the keystone in the temple of achievement. It binds and holds together in a complete whole that which would otherwise lie scattered and useless.
The stronger the signal you send yourself of your highest purpose, the more likely you are to notice ways to serve it.
A man needs a purpose for real health.
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.
For while species develop in an extraordinarily chancy way from the bottom of the tree upward, human lives, even when haphazard, "reek with purpose."
The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder; a waif, a nothing, a no-man.
You must act as if everything depended on your individual efforts. The secret of success is constancy of purpose.
The secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for.
To give life a meaning one must have a purpose larger than one's self, and more enduring than one's life.
To have a great purpose to work for, a purpose larger than ourselves, is one of the secrets of making life significant, for then the meaning and worth of the individual overflow his personal borders and survive his death.
The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.
A definite purpose, like blinders on a horse, inevitably narrows its possessor's point of view.
We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.
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.
There are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true, that they are worth dying for. And I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
There are days when I am envious of my hens: when I hunger for a purpose as perfect and sure as a single daily egg.
Without purpose, without meaning, life is dark. We've no light within, and we're just living to die.
The living self has one purpose only: to come into its own fullness of being, as a tree comes into full blossom, or a bird into spring beauty, or a tiger into luster.
Purpose in the human being is a much more complex phenomenon than what used to be called will power.
The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost.
He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.
To want to be what one can be is purpose in life.
If we are not to go to pieces or wither away, we all must have some purpose in life; for no man can live for himself alone.
The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.
Once you fully apprehend the vacuity of a life without struggle you are equipped with the basic means of salvation.
What's the subject of life—to get rich? All of those fellows out there getting rich could be dancing around the real subject of life.
An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding.
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
He who has a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.
I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.
Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.
Life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.
Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me ... Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful ... that's what matters to me.
Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all life really means.
There are many people who arrive at answers in life just like schoolboys; they cheat their teacher by copying the answer out of the arithmetic book without having worked the problem out themselves.
If I could think that I had sent a spark to those who come after I should be ready to say Goodbye.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness, But life without meaning is the torture Of restlessness and vague desire— It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
Our task as humans is to find the few principles that will calm the infinite anguish of free souls. We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust, give happiness a meaning once more to peoples poisoned by the misery of the century. It is a superhuman task. But superhuman is the term for tasks we take a long time to accomplish, that's all.
As one approaches the end of life, that which truly matters emerges sharp and clear—family, love, generosity, peace, nature, comfort.
A life has a meaning, which you give to it.
