Famous Quotes & Sayings

Emile Zola

If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.

Emile M. Cioran

To exist is equivalent to an act of faith, a protest against the truth, an interminable prayer. As soon as they consent to live, the unbeliever and the man of faith are fundamentally the same, since both have made the only decision that defines a being.

Emile M. Cioran

Death makes no sense except to people who have passionately loved life. How can one die without having something to part from? Detachment is a negation of both life and death. Whoever has overcome his fear of death has also triumphed over life. For life is nothing but another word for this fear.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Leadership is never given on a silver platter, one has to earn it.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Ethnicity should enrich us; it should make us a unique people in our diversity and not be used to divide us.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.

Ellen Goodman

It has begun to occur to me that life is a stage I'm going through.

Ellen Glasgow

... the ordinary is simply the universal observed from the surface, that the direct approach to reality is not without, but within. Touch life anywhereand you will touch universality wherever you touch the earth.

Ellen DeGeneres

That's what life is all about. There's a lot of crying. So you'd better cry now and get used to it.

Ellen DeGeneres

Life is short. If you doubt me, ask a butterfly. Their average life span is a mere five to fourteen days.

Eric Roth

Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.

Erasmus Darwin

Life is a forced state! I am surprized that we live, rather than that our friends die.

Epictetus

In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person; in actual life, men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the man who has convinced them.

Epictetus

Remember that you are in actor in a play of such a kind that the author chooses...For this is your duty, to act well the part that is given to you; but to select the part belongs to another.

Epictetus

Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men!

Epictetus

What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves, but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.

Epictetus

Ask yourself, "How are my thoughts, words and deeds affecting my friends, my spouse, my neighbour, my child, my employer, my subordinates, my fellow citizens?"

Epictetus

Ask yourself: Does this appearance (of events) concern the things that are within my own control or those that are not? If it concerns anything outside your control, train yourself not to worry about it.

Epictetus

Consider the bigger picture.....think things through and fully commit!

Epictetus

Try not to react merely in the moment. Pull back from the situation. Take a wider view. Compose yourself.

Epictetus

Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but shines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun.

Epictetus

Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.

Epictetus

Let no man think that he is loved by any who loveth none.

Epicurus

A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not easy to do without servility to mobs or monarchs.

Epicurus

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.

Epicurus

Pleasure is the beginning and the end of living happily.

Epicurus

Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

Epictetus

When we name things correctly, we comprehend them correctly, without adding information or judgements that aren't there. Does someone bathe quickly? Don't say be bathes poorly, but quickly. Name the situation as it is, don't filter it through your judgments. Give your assent only to that which is actually true.

Epictetus

Learn to distinguish what you can and can't control. Within our control are our own opinions, aspirations, desires and the things that repel us. They are directly subject to our influence.

Epictetus

We do not choose our own parts in life, and have nothing to do with those parts. Our duty is confined to playing them well.

Epictetus

All human beings seek the happy life, but many confuse the means - for example, wealth and status - with that life itself. This misguided focus on the means to a good life makes people get further from the happy life. The really worthwhile things are the virtuous activities that make up the happy life, not the external means that may seem to produce it.

Epictetus

Survey and test a prospective action before undertaking it. Before you proceed, step back and look at the big picture, lest you act rashly on raw impulse.

Epictetus

As you think, so you become.....Our busy minds are forever jumping to conclusions, manufacturing and interpreting signs that aren't there.