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Purpose Quotes

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Purpose Quotes

“Wars are no longer waged in the name of a sovereign who must be defended; they are waged on behalf of the existence of everyone; entire populations are mobilized for the purpose of wholesale slaughter in the name of life necessity: massacres have become vital.”

War Purpose Names Existence Population Sovereign Behalf Slaughter Massacres Wholesale

Book:The History of Sexuality: An Introduction

Source: The History of Sexuality: An Introduction

“There is only one inborn erroneous notion ... that we exist in order to be happy ... So long as we persist in this inborn error ... the world seems to us full of contradictions. For at every step, in great things and small, we are bound to experience that the world and life are certainly not arranged for the purpose of maintaining a happy existence ... hence the countenances of almost all elderly persons wear the expression of ... disappointment.”

“EARTH LIFE with its joys and sorrows is a necessary part of our eternal existence. Its purposes are to prepare us to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and to provide the way whereby we may receive a fulness of joy.”

Way Life May Earth Joy Purpose Father Existence Return Sorrow Eternal Eternity Preparation Heavenly Heavenly Father Joys And Sorrows Earth Life

Book:For They Shall Be Comforted

Source: For They Shall Be Comforted

“Our primordial purpose is to respond to the impulsion from within to solve the mystery of our individual existence, to find and be the authentic Self that is, has been and ever shall be.”

Has Beens Self Purpose Individual Existence Mystery Solve Authentic Self

Author:Michael Beckwith

“One of the functions of art is to offer a more desirable reality - a model, as it were, of another style of existence with its own pace and its own cultural reference.”

Art Reality Purpose Existence Style Offers Models Art Is Function Pace Desirable

Author:Peter Schmidt

“The nuclear arms race has no military purpose. Wars cannot be fought with nuclear weapons. Their existence only adds to our perils.”

War Purpose Race Existence Military Arms Weapons Add Nuclear Nuclear Weapons Peril Arms Race Nuclear Arms Nuclear Arms Race

Author:Lord Mountbatten

“LIFE is that existence that is given to man to live for a purpose, to live to his own satisfaction and pleasure, providing he forgets not the God who created him and who expects a spiritual obedience and observation of the moral laws that He has inspired.”

Men Spiritual Law Life Is Purpose Given Forget Pleasure Existence Moral Inspirational Life Inspired Satisfaction Observation Obedience Providing Moral Law

Book:Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey

Source: Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey

“The experience of life in a finite, limited body is specifically for the purpose of discovering and manifesting supernatural existence.”

Body Purpose Existence Manifest Discovering Finite

Author:Pythagoras

“Man's earthly existence is but a test as to whether he will concentrate his efforts, his mind, his soul upon things which contribute to the comfort and gratification of his physical instincts and passions, or whether he will make as his life's end and purpose the acquisition of spiritual qualities”

Men Mind Soul Ends Spiritual Purpose Passion Effort Existence Quality Comfort Tests Instinct Gratification Acquisition

Author:David O. McKay

“Dogs invite us not only to share their joy but also to live in the moment, where we are neither proceeding from nor moving toward, where the enchantment of the past and future cannot distract us, where a freedom from practical desire and a cessation of our usual ceaseless action allows us to recognize the truth of our existence, the reality of our world and purpose--if we dare.”

Source: The Odd Thomas Series 7-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Odd Hours, Odd Apocalypse, Odd Interlude, Deeply Odd

“A person is not a democrat thanks to his ignorance of literature and the arts, nor an elitist because he or she has cultivated them. The possession of knowledge makes for unjust power over others only if used for that very purpose: a physician or lawyer or clergyman can exploit or humiliate others, or he can be a humanitarian and a benefactor. In any case, it is absurd to conjure up behind anybody who exploits his educated status the existence of an "elite" scheming to oppress the rest of us.”

“Year-end financial statements express a truth about office life which is no less irrefutable yet also, in the end, no less irrelevant or irritating than an evolutionary biologist's proud reminder that the purpose of existence lies in the propagation of our genes.”

Years Ends Lying Purpose Existence Proud Office Financial Statements Genes Irrelevant Reminders Irritating Biologist Propagation Year End Financial Statements

Author:Alain de Botton

“It is never until one realizes that one means something to others that one feels there is any point or purpose in one's own existence.”

Feels Mean Purpose Realizing Existence

Author:Stefan Zweig

“It seems that it is impossible to live without discovering the purpose of your life. And the first thing which a person should do is to understand the meaning of life. But the majority of people who consider themselves to be educated are proud that they have reached such great height that they cease to care about the meaning of existence.”

People Should Firsts Persons Seems Care Purpose Existence Impossible Proud Majority Cease Educated Height Meaning Of Life Discovering Great Heights

Author:Leo Tolstoy

“Locke had illegitimately selected those parts of man he needed for his social contract and suppressed all the rest, a theoretically unsatisfactory procedure and a practically costly one. The bourgeois is the measure of the price paid, he who most of all cannot afford to look to his real self, who denies the existence of the thinly boarded-over basement in him, who is most made over for the purposes of a society that does not even promise him perfection or salvation but merely buys him off.”

Men Looks Doe Made Real Self Purpose Social Existence Needed Promise Perfection Paid Salvation Deny Contracts Procedures Bourgeois Selected Basements Real Self Social Contract

Book:Closing of the American Mind

Source: Closing of the American Mind

“In civilized life, where the happiness, and indeed almost the existence, of man depends so much upon the opinion of his fellow-men, he is constantly acting a studied part. The bold and peculiar traits of native character are refined away or softened down by the levelling influence of what is termed good-breeding, and he practises so many petty deceptions and affects so many generous sentiments for the purposes of popularity that it is difficult to distinguish his real from his artificial character.”

Source: The Complete Short Stories of Washington Irving: The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveler, The Alhambra, Woolfert’s Roost & The Crayon Papers Collections (Illustrated): The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, Old Christmas, The Voyage, Roscoe, The Widow’s Retinue, An Old Soldier, Mountjoy, Don Juan, Woolfert’s Roost, Tales of The Alhambra and many more

“Nature has not implanted any power in man that was not meant to be exercised at times, though too often our powers have been abused. The privilege, inborn and inalienable, that every man has of dying himself, and inflicting death upon another, was not given to us without a purpose. These are the last resources of an insulted and unendurable existence.”

Men Has Beens Lasts Purpose Given Existence Dying Resources Privilege Every Man Meant To Be Insulted Unendurable Were Not Meant To Be

Book:White-jacket: or, The world in a man-of-war

Source: White-jacket: or, The world in a man-of-war

“His [Turgot's] first important literary and scholastic effort was a treatise On the Existence of God. Few fragments of it remain, but we are helped to understand him when we learn that he asserted, and to the end of his life maintained, his belief in an Almighty Creator and Upholder of the Universe. It did, indeed, at a later period suit the purposes of his enemies, exasperated by his tolerant spirit and his reforming plans, to proclaim him an atheist; but that sort of charge has been the commonest of missiles against troublesome thinkers in all times.”

“The Bhagavad Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe.”

Humans Action Spiritual Purpose Universe Views Deals Existence Duty Foundation Obligation Human Existence Gita Spiritual Nature

Author:Jawaharlal Nehru

“Life is there ahead of you and either one tests oneself in its challenges or huddles in the valleys of a dreamless day-to-day existence whose only purpose is the preservation of a illusory security and safety. The latter is what the vast majority of people choose to do, fearing the adventure into the known.”

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals

“The question, "What is the purpose thereof?" cannot be asked about anything which is not the product of an agent; therefore we cannot ask what is the purpose of the existence of God.”

Purpose Asks Existence Products Agents Existence Of God

Book:The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: The Guide for the Perplexed

“Know that the difficulties which lead to confusion in the question what is the purpose of the Universe or of any of its parts, arise from two causes: first, man has an erroneous idea of himself, and believes that the whole world exists only for his sake; secondly, he is ignorant both about the nature of the sublunary world, and about the Creator's intention to give existence to all beings whose existence is possible, because existence is undoubtedly good.”

Knows Men World Giving Firsts Believe Two Ideas Whole Purpose Universe Causes Existence Difficulty Intention Sake Creator Arise Whole World Ignorant Confusion

Book:The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: The Guide for the Perplexed

“The apparatus defeats its own purpose if its purpose is to create a humane existence on the basis of a humanized nature.”

Ifs Purpose Existence Bases Defeat Humane

Book:One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society

Source: One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society

“Theology recognizes the contingency of human existence only to derive it from a necessary being, that is, to remove it. Theology makes use of philosophical wonder only for the purpose of motivating an affirmation which ends it. Philosophy, on the other hand, arouses us to what is problematic in our own existence and in that of the world, to such a point that we shall never be cured of searching for a solution.”

World Humans Ends Philosophy Use Hands Purpose Existence Wonder Solutions Philosophical Theology Remove Affirmation Human Existence Contingency

Book:In Praise of Philosophy and Other Essays

Source: In Praise of Philosophy and Other Essays

“Maybe the growth of "God" signifies the existence of God. That is: if history naturally pushes people toward moral improvement, toward moral growth, and their God, as they conceive their God, grows accordingly, becoming morally richer, then maybe this growth is evidence of some higher purpose, and maybe - conceivably - the source of that purpose is worthy of the name divinity.”

People Ifs Purpose Names Grows Growth Existence Moral Source Becoming Higher Evidence Worthy Improvement Divinity Existence Of God Higher Purpose Moral Growth

Book:The Evolution Of God: The origins of our beliefs

Source: The Evolution Of God: The origins of our beliefs

“Existentialist philosophy recognizes the existence of the individual as the real purpose of human life. The recognition is basically atheistic and it encourages the individual to free himself from the impositions of custom, governmental authority, economic pressures, and cultural inhibitions.”

Humans Real Philosophy Purpose Individual Existence Atheism Economic Authority Pressure Positive Atheism Recognition Human Life Customs Atheistic Inhibitions Imposition Existentialist

Author:Goparaju Ramachandra Rao

“The purpose prong of the Lemon test requires that a government activity have a secular purpose. That requirement is not satisfied, however, by the mere existence of some secular purpose, however dominated by religious purposes... The proper inquiry under the purpose prong of Lemon, I submit, is whether the government intends to convey a message of endorsement or disapproval of religion.”

Government Purpose Religious Existence Atheism Activity Messages Tests Mere Satisfied Submit Secular Requirements Inquiry Lemons Endorsements Disapproval

Author:Sandra Day O'Connor

“The one function that most gods seem to have in common is to give human existence some ultimate purpose - and, while it is not possible to disprove an ultimate purpose, there does not seem to be any evidence for it. This is not to say, of course, that there is no purpose in life at all: we all make our own purposes as we go through life. And life does not lose its value simply because it it not going to last forever.”

Giving Humans Doe Seems Lasts Purpose Values Courses Loses Common Existence Forever Atheism Evidence Ultimate Function Positive Atheism Purpose Of Life Human Existence

Author:Barbara Smoker

“Zen purposes to discipline the mind itself, to make it its own master, through an insight into its proper nature. This getting into the real nature of one's own mind or soul is the fundamental object of Zen Buddhism. Zen, therefore, is more than meditation and Dhyana in its ordinary sense. The discipline of Zen consists in opening the mental eye in order to look into the very reason of existence.”

Mind Looks Real Soul Reason Eye Purpose Order Nature Existence Meditation Objects Masters Buddhism Discipline Ordinary Fundamentals Insight Opening Zen Buddhism Dhyana

Book:An Introduction to Zen Buddhism

Source: An Introduction to Zen Buddhism

“Clearly, one primary purpose of our existence upon the earth is to obtain a body of flesh and bones. We have also been given the gift of agency. In a thousand ways we are privileged to choose for ourselves. Here we learn from the hard taskmaster of experience. We discern between good and evil. We differentiate as to the bitter and the sweet. We discover that there are consequences attached to our actions.”

Way Hard Body Action Earth Purpose Evil Given Existence Sweet Thousand Consequence Bones Flesh Bitter Primaries Agency Good And Evil Privileged Our Actions Differentiate

Author:Thomas S. Monson

“In the end, people don't view their life as merely the average of all its moments-which, after all, is mostly nothing much plus some sleep. For human beings, life is meaningful because it is a story. A story has a sense of a whole, and its arc is determined by the significant moments, the ones where something happens. Measurements of people's minute-by-minute levels of pleasure and pain miss this fundamental aspect of human existence. A seemingly happy life maybe empty. A seemingly difficult life may be devoted to a great cause. We have purposes larger than ourselves.”

Source: Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End

“I don't think anyone really knows the purpose of their existence.”

Thinking Knows Purpose Existence

Author:Oliver Sykes

“You must all know half a dozen people at least who are no use in this world, who are more trouble than they are worth. Just put them there and say Sir, or Madam, now will you be kind enough to justify your existence? If you can't justify your existence, if you're not pulling your weight in the social boat, if you're not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more, then, clearly, we cannot use the organizations of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us and it can't be of very much use to yourself.”

People Ifs Knows World Kind Littles Doe Enough Use Purpose Social Existence Half Alive Trouble This World Benefits Organization Weight Boat Our Society Justify Be Kind Dozen Pulling

Author:George Bernard Shaw

“It is not enough to invent new machines, new regulations, or new institutions. We must understand differently and more perfectly the true purpose of our existence on this earth.”

Enough Earth Purpose Existence Machines Institutions Regulation True Purpose

Author:Vaclav Havel

“Who am I?” “What is the purpose of my life?” These questions arise spontaneously throughout our lives, either unbidden or through conscious intent. Anyone who wishes to live an authentic life must answer these questions, regardless of whether they believe in the existence of the soul or practice a religion. If these queries remain unanswered, life will more than likely remain superficial and empty, in spite of any material abundance. If you wish to make the soul's journey, then I suggest you ask yourself these questions relentlessly and ruthlessly, and listen carefully.”

Ifs Believe Soul Purpose Asks Wish Answers Existence Practice Our Lives Journey Materials Conscious Empty Arise Abundance Spite Superficial Unanswered Authentic Life Queries

Author:Ilchi Lee

“Bertrand Russell used a hypothetical teapot in orbit about Mars for the same didactic purpose. You have to be agnostic about the teapot, but that doesn't mean you treat the likelihood of its existence as being on all fours with its non-existence.”

Mean Used Purpose Existence Atheism Treats Positive Atheism Mars Agnostic Orbit Likelihood Hypothetical Non Existence Didactic Teapots Fours

Author:Richard Dawkins

“Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation forthe existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind's eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of the watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.”

“We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavor to shine. We labor unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence and neglect the real.”

Mind Real Desire Purpose Existence Labor Shining Vanity Preserves Hypocrisy Neglect Endeavor Imaginary Desire To Live Imaginary Life

Book:Thoughts, Letters, and Minor Works

Source: Thoughts, Letters, and Minor Works

“Whoever considers morality the main objective of human existence, seems to me like a person who defines the purpose of a clock asnot going wrong. The first objective for a clock, is, however, that it does run; not going wrong is an additional regulative function. If not a watch's greatest accomplishment were not going wrong, unwound watches might be the best.”

“Tribulations often enrich, refine, and guide us to a deeper understanding of the purpose of our existence here in mortality and of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”

Purpose Jesus Understanding Christ Existence Jesus Christ Deeper Guides Mortality Atonement Tribulation Deeper Understanding

Author:Jose A. Teixeira

“Intelligent design cannot explain Darwinian evolution. Darwin's whole point is that variation and change are random and without higher purpose. We cannot imagine that God designed this disproof of His own existence.”

Whole Purpose Existence Imagine Design Evolution Higher Intelligent Imagine That Variation Intelligent Design Higher Purpose

Author:James K. Galbraith

“Truth exists. The sole purpose of this proposition is to assert the existence of truth against imbeciles and sceptics.”

Truth Purpose Existence Sole Skepticism Propositions Imbeciles Sceptic

Author:Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury

“...there is no more strategic issue for a company, or any organization, than its ultimate purpose. For those who think business exists to make a profit, I suggest they think again. Business makes a profit to exist. Surely it must exist for some higher, nobler purpose than that.”

Thinking Purpose Business Existence Company Issues Higher Ultimate Organization Entrepreneur Profit Strategic Noble Causes

Author:Ray Anderson

“We are here for the purpose of redeeming and regenerating the earth on which we live, and God has placed his authority and his counsels here upon the earth for that purpose, that men may learn to do the will of God on the earth as it is done in heaven. This is the object of our existence.”

Men May Done Earth Purpose Heaven Existence Learning Objects Authority Gods Will Redeeming

Book:John Taylor

Source: John Taylor

“Life is a great gift, and as we reach years of discretion, most of us naturally ask ourselves what should be the main object of our existence.”

Should Years Life Is Purpose Asks Existence Objects Discretion Great Gifts

Book:The Pleasures of the Life

Source: The Pleasures of the Life

“Man's pursuit of physical desires and earthly possessions is an indication of his lack of conviction that the purpose of his existence is the attainment of spirituality.”

Men Desire Purpose Spirituality Existence Conviction Possession Pursuit Attainment Indication Earthly Possessions

Author:Abraham J. Twerski

“Everything in the world is part of a design. Everything has meaning and purpose and a place in the pattern of existence, only it's not always possible to understand what that design is. Only God can understand the design, because he invented it.”

World Purpose Existence Design Patterns

Book:Penmarric

Source: Penmarric

“If a leader demonstrates that his purpose is noble, that the work will enable people to connect with something large - more permanent than their material existence - people will give the best of themselves to the enterprise”

People Ifs Giving Purpose Existence Leader Materials Noble Permanent Enterprise

Author:Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“Barack Obama is a threat to the continued existence of the United States, and he must be impeached, or resign. The real question is, what will we replace his bad policies with? Real patriots understand the need to think ahead, to create a meaningful purpose and direction as we rebuild our nation. We know that the next several generations need a better world to live in, which can only be a Post-Obama World.”

Thinking Knows World Needs Real States Purpose Next Nations United Existence United States Generations Policy Threat Meaningful Barack Posts Patriot Real Questions Purpose And Direction

Author:Kesha Rogers

“A purpose derived from a false premise - that a deity has ordained submission to his will - cannot merit respect. The pursuit of Enlightenment-era goals - solving our world's problems through rational discourse, rather than through religion and tradition - provides ample grounds for a purposive existence. It is not for nothing that the Enlightenment, when atheism truly began to take hold, was also known as the Age of Reason.”

World Reason Problem Age Purpose Goal Existence Known Atheism Enlightenment Tradition Pursuit Rational Eras Merit Our World Discourse Submission Deities Premises Age Of Reason

Author:Jeffrey Tayler