When I say violence I mean violence of Life itself ... To think how disturbing what is called Reality is. Francis Bacon
It’s good to know we’re born into a losing struggle ... Everything is governed by entropy and decline and annihilation and disaster. Christopher Hitchens v Rabbi David Wolpe, debate Boston 2010
The offer of certainty, the offer of complete security, the offer of an impermeable faith that can’t give way, is an offer of something not worth having. I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don’t know anything like enough yet; that I haven’t understood enough; that I can’t know enough; that I’m always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Christopher Hitchens
The only solution that we have is choosing to sing a new song. You hold the choice of living a lethal lie resulting in a shallow and enslaved existence or celebrating the greater truth about the sacredness of your spirit, your genetics, your divine connection and your ability to uniquely contribute to humanity at this crucial time. It is time for a new song. Len Horowitz
We live in a heroic age. We live in a moment that will never come again. Professor Richard Feynman
The game of life is hard to play
Gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I’ll someday lay
So this is all I have say:
Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave if I please. Theme from MASH
Why are we here?
What’s life about?
Is that really real?
Or is there some doubt?
Well tonight we’re going to sort it all out
For tonight is the Meaning of Life. Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, 1983
I mean I was angry with myself for getting pregnant. And the main anger that I had was the failure. I was a failure. A total failure in life. And I mean, had I been successful, had I been a successful artist for example, then maybe I could have gone ahead with having the child. Whether or not I was supported by the father of the child or not. I could have had the conviction and seen the whole thing through. But the fact that I was a failure as a painter, a failure as an artist, and having an abortion gave me another level of failure as a human being. Tracey Emin, film How it Feels
Awake, my St John! leave all meaner things
To low ambition, and the pride of kings.
Let us (since Life can little more supply
That just to look about us and to die)
Expatiate free o’er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a pain. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
I wish to preach not the doctrine of ignoble ease but the doctrine of the strenuous life. Theodore Roosevelt, speech 10th April 1899
Life is a great adventure … accept it in such a spirit. Theodore Roosevelt
The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it. Theodore Roosevelt
No, there’s nothing half so sweet in life
As love’s young dream. Thomas Moore, Irish Melodies, 1807
Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one. Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, 1962
The cradle rocks about an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two extremities of darkness. Vladimir Nabokov
Existence is a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece. Vladimir Nabokov
If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in and drop out. Timothy Leary, lecture June 1966
I know in my heart that man is good.
That what is right will always eventually triumph.
And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life. Ronald Reagan
We should know the sanctity of life. We should cherish all children everywhere. And we compete and die, or cooperate and live and be joyful. David Halpin, Make War History
Only a life lived for others is worth living. Albert Einstein
From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other – above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labours of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. Albert Einstein
One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one’s own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought. Albert Einstein
I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind. Albert Einstein
The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind. Albert Einstein
I’m into having a good time, enjoying life, because it only comes around one time. But be ready when the time comes. Larry Holmes, interview Albert Maysles & Bradley Kaplan: Muhammad And Larry, ESPN
The journey of Life is about riding the ups and downs. Shane Warne, affair exposed with Liz Hurley
The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind. William James
I think being an individual, being sincere and being frank with other people are the most important things. Adam Faith, Face to Face 1960
Lust For Life. Iggy Pop
Never explain – your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway. Elbert Hubbard, The Motto Book, 1907
Life is just one damned thing after another. Elbert Hubbard, cited Philistine December 1909
Though it may feel otherwise, enjoying life is no more dangerous than apprehending it with continuous anxiety and gloom. Alain de Botton
The principal business of life is to enjoy it. Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh
We are continually dying. Petrarch
I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel. Life is art. Helena Bonham Carter
Alfie: It never ends, does it?
Cafe owner: Only when we’re dead, my friend. Breakdown 2016 starring Craig Fairbrass & James Cosmo & Emmett Scanlan & Mem Ferda & Tamer Hassan & Bruce Payne & Olivia Grant & Rab Affleck & David Bark-Jones et al, director Johnnie Malachi
Everything has been figured out. Except how to live. John Paul Satre
Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly. Franz Kafka
Take a little tea, my son … A little vodka instead? Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, published 1897; Marina to Astroff, viz BBC production 1991
I am overworked. Nurse, I am on my feet from dawn to dusk. I know no rest. ibid. Astroff to Marina
My life has gone completely off the track. I sleep in the dark, drink wine … ibid. Voitski
What’s he [Professor] doing in there [library] all day? What’s he working on? ibid.
We destroy the forests, the rivers run dry, the wildlife is all but extinct, the climate is ruined … ibid.
This is not a happy home … One would not say this is a happy home. ibid. Helena
Soon the rain will be over, and all nature will sigh and awake refreshed. ibid. Voitski