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Meaning Quotes

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Meaning Quotes

“[eroticism is] quality of aliveness, of vibrancy, of vitality, a life force" that's just as relevant to your work life as it is to your love life. Bringing eroticism into all areas of human existence is at the heart of her work. And because virtually everyone lives in a matrix of personal, professional, and transactional relationships, the erotic charge of those relationships is integrally tied to the pursuit of a meaningful life.”

PassionRelationshipsSexualityMeaningMeaningful LifeEroticism
Author:Esther Perel
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“We all need a sense of meaning in our lives. The feeling that we're doing good in the world--that we're making a difference in some way--is essential. Not everything we do needs to evoke a deep sense of meaning. That would be exhausting! Multipotentialites are usually involved in a number of different projects. Some of these are naturally more meaningful than others (just as some are more profitable than others). What matters isn't that everything we do is deeply meaningful, but that we have enough overall meaning to make us feel good about how we're spending our time on this earth.”

PurposePassionMeaningPolymathMultipotentialiteGeneralistMultipodScannerRenaissance Person
Author:Emilie Wapnick
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“Look out the window. You ask yourself: how are we actually supposed to live? After we’ve eaten and slept well, what is there for us? Is this life supposed to be a kind of animal that fills itself with things like lunch, TV news, occasional travels, and then dies? Like a mortal doll poked with the same colored thumbtacks as everyone else. Eat. Masturbate. Heartbreak. Sleep. Perhaps the answer to a deep boredom is community—but what good are two people but another person to eat lunch, watch TV news, and travel mediocrely with, and also die? Humans don’t know their origins, which explains why we’re always confused and longing for some unattainable dimension from 18 to 80. Can we ever be more?”

PassionExistenceCareersSadnessDepressionMeaningBoredHeartacheBoredomThe Goodbye Song
Book:The Goodbye Song
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“They're humble because they're in service. They know they have to practice when they are filled with love. When they are filled with bile. When the sun is out and everyone with a palpably alive soul is on the beach, they are in wood-paneled dumps, practicing. Until they ruin any chance at being substantial and there is no soul on earth who will have them.”

PassionMeaningHumblenessPracticing
Book:2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas
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“She had lost herself in this old work, her personality dissolving into it, so that she had been set free. The immortality of the soul lies in its dissolution; this was the cryptic comment that so frustrated Olivier and which Julien had only ever grasped as evidence for the history of a particular school of thought. He had known all about its history, but Julia knew what it meant. He found the realization strangely reassuring.”

SoulPhilosophyFreedomThoughtLiberationMeaningImmortalityDissolutionSelf Abandonment
Book:The Dream of Scipio
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“There's a kind of saying that you don't understand its meaning, 'I don't believe it. It's too crazy. I'm not going to accept it.'… You'll have to accept it. It's the way nature works. If you want to know how nature works, we looked at it, carefully. Looking at it, that's the way it looks. You don't like it? Go somewhere else, to another universe where the rules are simpler, philosophically more pleasing, more psychologically easy. I can't help it, okay? If I'm going to tell you honestly what the world looks like to the human beings who have struggled as hard as they can to understand it, I can only tell you what it looks like.”

PhilosophyScienceMeaningUncertainty
Author:Richard Feynman
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“The dead are immune from our prison of Time. The distance between the living and dead may be vast, but the space of Time the dead experience when they are reunited with their loved ones is only paper-thin.”

LifeSoulPhilosophyWisdomDeathSpiritTimeSpaceExistenceAliveDyingMissingLivingExperienceLongingDistancePrisonMeaningBuriedAfterlifeDeadReincarnationDieLife PurposePhilosopher QuotesMissing SomeonePassing AwaySoul MatesEulogyPassed AwaySuzy KassemAfterlife QuotesSpace And TimePoet QuotesPaper ThinLiving And Dead
Book:Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
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“This is why introductions are important--because in the beginning, despite the fact that we already believe we know what it means, there's a chance that over time the definition will change from one thing to another.”

BelieveImportantFactsTimeBeliefChangeMeaningIntroductionFactBeginningDefinitionAnotherThe Dark Dictionary
Book:The Dark Dictionary: A Guide to Help Eradicate Your Darkness, Restore Your Light, and Redefine Your Life.
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“Perhaps this is how it is--life flowing smoothly over memory and history, the past returning or not, depending on the tide. History is a collection of found objects washed up through time. Goods, ideas, personalities, surface towards us, then sink away. Some we hook out, others we ignore, and as the pattern changes, so does the meaning. We cannot rely on the facts. Time, which returns everything, changes everything.”

LifeFactsTimeHistoryMemoryMeaningObjectivitySubjectivity
Book:The Powerbook
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“One word absent from a sentence, or misinterpreted incorrectly, can change the entire meaning of a sentence. One word can change the meaning of everything. Before you believe anything about God or anybody, ask yourself how well do you trust the transmitter, translator or interpreter. And if you have never met them, then how do you know if the knowledge you acquired is even right? One hundred and twenty-five years following every major event in history, all remaining witnesses will have died. How well do you trust the man who has stored his version of a story? And how can you put that much faith into someone you don't know?”

BelieveGodFactsStoriesTruthTimeReligionSpeakLanguageFictionKnowledgeHistoryMediaEventsInformationCommunicationEvolutionNewsDiedAgingPassingWitnessMeaningTrueStoryTranslateHistoricAbsentFactWordEverythingTransmitTranslationFalseNews MediaSentenceInterpretWitnessesTranslatorStored
Book:Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
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“The ruinous abdication by philosophy of its rightful domain is the consequence of the oblivion of philosophers to a great insight first beheld clearly by Socrates and re-affirmed by Kant as by no other philosopher. Science, concerned solely and exclusively with objective existents, cannot give answers to questions about meanings and values. Only ideas engendered by the mind and to be found nowhere but in the mind (Socrates), only the pure transcendental forms supplied by reason (Kant), can secure the ideals and values and put us in touch with the realities that constitute our moral and spiritual life. Twenty-four centuries after Socrates, two centuries after Kant, we badly need to re-learn the lesson.”

PhilosophyScienceValueMeaning
Author:D. R. Khashaba
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“Seduced by the spectacular theoretical and practical successes of the objective sciences into thinking that the methods and criteria of those sciences were the only means to truth, philosophers sought to apply those same methods and criteria to questions relating to the meaning of life and the values that give meaning to life. Philosophy, especially the Analytical species prevalent in the English-speaking world, was broken up into specialized disciplines and fragmented into particular problems, all swayed and impregnated by scientism, reductionism, and relativism. All questions of meaning and value were consigned to the rubbish heap of 'metaphysical nonsense'.”

PhilosophyScienceValueMeaning
Author:D. R. Khashaba
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“There comes a moment when the image of our life parts company with the life itself, stands free, and, little by little, begins to rule us. Already in The Joke: “I came to realize that there was no power capable of changing the image of my person lodged somewhere in the supreme court of human destinies; that this image (even though it bore no resemblance to me) was much more real than my actual self; that I was its shadow and not it mine; that I had no right to accuse it of bearing no resemblance to me, but rather that it was I who was guilty of the nonresemblance; and that the nonresemblance was my cross, which I could not unload on anyone else, which was mine alone to bear.” And in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting: “Destiny has no intention of lifting a finger for Mirek (for his happiness, his security, his good spirits, his health), whereas Mirek is ready to do everything for his destiny (for its grandeur, its clarity, its beauty, its style, its intelligible meaning). He felt responsible for his destiny, but his destiny did not feel responsible for him.”

DestinyFateSacrificeFameAmbitionReflectionMeaningAspirationSelf ImageDestiny S Shadow
Book:The Art of the Novel
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“The meaning of life in western secular society is to be successful. So many people are success mad and they are encouraged to reach for something and have so called "worthwhile goals". Money, fame, power, good looks, possessions are the indicators of success and the media and advertising companies exploit this. People are conditioned to believe that they can only feel happy or good about themselves if they have these things. This of course is not true.”

LifeLooksTruthHappinessSuccessMoneyPowerSuccessfulSocietyMediaFameLiesWesternGoalsGoodAdvertisingMeaningDeceitSecularConditioningIndicatorsIsWhatOfPossessionsCompaniesConditioned
Book:So, You Want to Be Rich... But Jesus Doesn't.
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“Eventually, he brought me a translation of the Islamic Holy Book, the Quran, and one night, as I read, I came across a sura that touched me so deeply, moved me so profoundly, it was as though God had whispered in my ear. My life didn't change, the circumstances that plagued me -- poverty, exile from the real world, continuous fears about what lay ahead -- didn't change. I wasn't instantly, miraculously cured of the blackness that was rooted in my soul, but I was comforted. I, who felt and believed that I was beyond even the capability of God to love and forgive, who feared daily retribution of the meanest, vilest kind, cried to the first time since I'd come to this house, not bitterly, not grudging the tears. 'By the morning hours, And by the night when it is stillest The Lord hath not forsaken thee nor doth He hate thee And verily the latter portion will be better for thee than the former And verily thy Lord will give unto thee so that thou will be content Did He not find thee an Orphan and protect thee? Did He not find thee wandering and direct thee? Did He not find thee destitute and enrich thee? Therefore the orphan oppress not, Therefore the beggar drive not away, Therefore the bounty of thy Lord be thy discourse. (Sura 93)' That verse freed me. I was not an outcast, not hated by a God who could love and forgive everyone but me. In time, I could see my being in this house as an act of man, not an act of God. I also began to believe that there might be another reason for my being directed here; I was not here to die, but perhaps to do something about the place and the people. I began to feel I'd been given back purpose.”

PurposePovertyRecoveryMeaningOutcast
Book:Upstairs In The Crazy House: The Life Of A Psychiatric Survivor
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“You grab a bit of connection wherever you can to survive. You have no idea how strong the pull to feel worthwhile is. It's more basic than food. You go to these people who make you feel lovely for an hour that one time, and that's all you get. You're probably not compatible with them for anything long term, but right this minute they can make you feel powerful and valuable. It does not matter what will happen in a month. Whatever happens in a month is probably going to be just about as indifferent as whatever happened today or last week. None of it matters. We don't plan long term because if we do we'll just get our hearts broken. It's best not to hope. You just take what you can get as you spot it. I am not asking for sympathy. I am just trying to explain, on a human level, how it is that people make what look from the outside like awful decisions.”

LifeMoneyPovertyMeaningFinances
Book:Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America
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“School was starting to feel like yet another cycle, albeit a constructive one. At first, I told myself, once I get into college, once I get a good job, once I get popular, once I get ripped, or recognized, then I’ll be happy. But after each accomplishment, I only experienced temporary satisfaction. Each time, I would reassess, set higher goals, and work harder, saying, once I meet this goal, then I’ll be happy. Once I get a career in my field, once I find the right woman and make a family, then my life will have meaning. I worked rigorously. When I finally accomplished my goals, I felt proud and excited, but it never lasted long.”

SchoolMeaningCycle
Book:Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose
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“Le cose che la letteratura può ricercare e insegnare sono poche ma insostituibili: il modo di guardare il prossimo e se stessi, di porre in relazione fatti personali e fatti generali, di attribuire valore a piccole cose o a grandi, di considerare i propri limiti e vizi e gli altrui, di trovare le proporzioni della vita, e il posto dell'amore in essa, e la sua forza e il suo ritmo, e il posto della morte, il modo di pensarci o non pensarci; la letteratura può insegnare la durezza, la pietà, la tristezza, l'ironia, l'umorismo, e tante altre di queste cose necessarie e difficili. Il resto lo si vada a imparare altrove, dalla scienza, dalla storia, dalla vita, come noi tutti dobbiamo continuamente andare ad impararlo.”

LifeDeathLiteratureLanguageTeachTeachingMeaningWorth
Book:Una pietra sopra: discorsi di letteratura e società
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“Hippasus’ proof—or at least Nico’s retelling of it—was really so simple that when he finished sketching it out, I wasn’t even aware that we had actually proven anything. Nico paused for a few minutes to let us mull it over. It was Peter who broke the silence, “I’m not sure I understand what we have done.” Nico seemed to be expecting such a response. “Step back and examine the proof; in fact, you should try and do this with every proof you see or have to work out for yourself. ..." He again waited for his words to sink in, and it began to make sense for me. All my mathematics teachers (other than Bauji and Nico) always seemed to evade this part of their responsibility. They had been content to merely write out a proof on the blackboard and carry on, seemingly without concern for what the proof meant and what it told us. “But you should not stop here. Even when you have understood a proof, and I hope you have indeed understood this proof, ask yourself the next question, the obvious one, but as critical: So what? Or, why are we proving this? What is the point? What is the context? How does it relate to us? To answer these questions we have to step back a little. Let me show you—it’s really quite delightful.” Now there was excitement in Nico’s voice.”

UnderstandingTeachMathematicsProofMeaningCritical ThinkingWhyContextStep Back
Book:A Certain Ambiguity: A Mathematical Novel
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“What a peculiar civilisation this was: inordinately rich, yet inclined to accrue its wealth through the sale of some astonishingly small and only distantly meaningful things, a civilisation torn and unable sensibly to adjudicate between the worthwhile ends to which money might be put and the often morally trivial and destructive mechanisms of its generation.”

WealthMoneyCivilizationMeaningThingsTrivialityMaterial Goods
Book:The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
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“My life came to a standstill. I could breathe, eat, drink and sleep, and I could not help doing these things; but there was no life, for there were no wishes the fulfilment of which I could consider reasonable. If I desired anything, I knew in advance that whether I satisfied my desire or not, nothing would come of it. Had a fairy come and offered to fulfil my desires I should not have known what to ask. If in moments of intoxication I felt something which, though not a wish, was a habit left by former wishes, in sober moments I knew this to be a delusion and that there was really nothing to wish for. I could not even wish to know the truth, for I guess of what it consisted. The truth was that life is meaningless.”

TruthInspirational QuotesDesireDepressionMeaning
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“In the absence of a formally agreed, worldwide dictionary definition of 'Quotography' (in 2016), here are my two cents worth: 'Quotography is the art of pairing unique quotations with complementary images in order to express thought-provoking ideas, challenging concepts, profound sentiments'.”

InspirationalInspirationInspirational QuotesQuotesLanguageCreationExpressionQuoteWordsDefinitionsDefinedMeaningDescriptionQuotationsSayingsDefiningDictionaryProverbsWords To Live ByLinguisticsEpigramsDefinitionWords Have PowerLanguagesNew WordsLanguages And CultureWords To Inspire YouMeaningsQuotable QuotesQuotableWords To PonderCreating New ThingsCreationsExpression QuotesDescriptionsDictionary QuotesQuipsDictionary MeaningsMeanings Of ThingsNew WordDefined QuoteDefined QuotesDictionary DefinitionsQuotographyQuotology
Book:Lines & Lenses
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“Before Mance, Varamyr Sixskins had been a lord of sorts. He lived alone in a hall of moss and mud and hewn logs that had once been Haggon’s, attended by his beasts. A dozen villages did him homage in bread and salt and cider, offering him fruit from their orchards and vegetables from their gardens. His meat he got himself. Whenever he desired a woman he sent his shadowcat to stalk her, and whatever girl he’d cast his eye upon would follow meekly to his bed. Some came weeping, aye, but still they came. Varamyr gave them his seed, took a hank of their hair to remember them by, and sent them back. From time to time, some village hero would come with spear in hand to slay the beastling and save a sister or a lover or a daughter. Those he killed, but he never harmed the women. Some he even blessed with children. Runts. Small, puny things, like Lump, and not one with the gift.”

LifeChildrenWomenMeaningVillage
Book:A Dance with Dragons
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“Live to start your stupid ideas, and start to live a life without regret--a life filled with meaning, freedom, happiness, fun, authenticity, and influence.”

LifeInspirationHappinessInspirational QuotesFunFreedomInfluenceRegretLivingInspirational QuoteAuthenticityMeaningStartGood Living
Book:The Power of Starting Something Stupid: How to Crush Fear, Make Dreams Happen, and Live without Regret
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