As I noted in a previous blog about living life on life’s terms, one has to take a long, hard look at life and in the mirror and not blanch. One will find a high challenge there. “Life is a tragedy to those who think, and a comedy to those who feel,” noted French author La Bruyere long ago. But Drew D. Brown believed that “[y]ou don’t look in the mirror to see life; you’ve got to look out the window.” Thus, I wanted to follow up that first blog with this, a piece featuring quotes about living life on life’s terms. Enjoy this look at coping, self-realization, personal growth, inner strength, truth, insight, and realism. The first quote starts out pretty grim, but hey, that’s the truth: life can really suck sometimes. We do have some choice about how we cope, and that has much to do with examining our thoughts, being integrated into society and community, and pursuing realistic and intrinsically-valuable goals. Without further ado, I give you a unique smattering of quotes about living life on life’s terms:
“Overwhelmed by distress, I stared at my roommate. How do you cope with this hellhole? ‘Poorly at best,’ he answered point-blank. ‘I simply pray for my release from this hellhole, as you say. If I’m lucky, I will soon be struck down by a fatal heart attack, or some other form of mercy killing attributable to fate,’ he snickered. ‘Residents never leave here unless they’re on a stretcher, under a white sheet. Sorry for being frank, but hey! That’s the way the cookie crumbles.’”
“Every catastrophe or trauma strips us of something and gives us something.”
“Increasingly, the positive aspects of older adulthood are being studied. Factors that are linked with successful aging include an active lifestyle, positive coping skills, good social relationships and support, and the absence of disease.”
“We want to be strong, but is it right to rely on steroids? We want to be cheerful all the time, but is it right to live without the experience of melancholy? We want a pill that helps us remember everything we want and to forget pain and embarrassment, but what does selective memory do to our character? We all want our children to be smart and attractive and skillful, but is it right to bestow these qualities on them genetically and chemically – or to let them gain the satisfaction of coping with shortcomings and earning the good life?”
“We rely upon the poets, the philosophers, and the playwrights to articulate what most of us can only feel, in joy or sorrow. They illuminate the thoughts for which we only grope; they give us the strength and balm we cannot find in ourselves. Whenever I feel my courage wavering, I rush to them. They give me the wisdom of acceptance, the will and resilience to push on.”
You are reading quotes about living life on life’s terms on Values of the Wise.com
“We believe that salvation is to be found in wholesome work in a beloved land. Work will provide our people with the bread of tomorrow, and moreover, with the honor of the tomorrow, the freedom of the tomorrow.” ~ Theodor Herzl
“There are hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific papers offering evidence that mindfulness improves mental and physical wellbeing while also enhancing creativity and decision making. In short, mindfulness is a potent antidote to anxiety, stress, depression, exhaustion, and irritability. Regular meditators are not only happier and more contented, but they are far less likely to suffer from psychological distress as well.”
“I still don’t know what I was waiting for/ And my time was running wild/ A million dead-end streets/ And every time I thought I’d got it made/ It seemed the taste was not so sweet.” ~ David Bowie
“There is a fine line between compassion and a victim mentality. Compassion though is a healing force and comes from a place of kindness towards yourself. Playing the victim is a toxic waste of time that not only repels other people, but also robs the victim of ever knowing true happiness.” ― Bronnie Ware
“If you can find humor in life, you’re bulletproof.” ~ Ricky Gervais
“The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one’s work seriously and taking one’s self seriously. The first is imperative and the second disastrous.”
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms ― to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ~ Viktor Frankl
“Is the spirit capable of achieving what we in our distress must expect of it? Let us not underestimate its power, the evidence of which can be seen throughout the history of mankind.”
“Keeping the mind active makes poor use of our most precious natural resource. True, the brain can work wonders in high gear. But it will do so much more if given the chance to slow down from time to time. Shifting the mind into lower gear can bring better health, inner calm, enhanced concentration, and the ability to think more creatively. It can bring us what Milan Kundera calls ‘the wisdom of slowness.’”
I hope you enjoyed quotes about living life on life’s terms from Values of the Wise.com
“Unless the wisdom of the East and the energy of the West can be harnessed and used harmoniously, the world will be destroyed.”
“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: If you live every day as if it were your last, one day you will certainly be right. It made an impression on me, and since then, almost 33 years, I look in the mirror each morning and ask myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? Whenever the answer has been “No” too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
“A sense of humor can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected, and smile through the unbearable.”
“…studies indicate that religion buffers its adherents from worry. Religious people are less depressed, less anxious and less suicidal than nonreligious people. And they are better able to cope with such crises as illness, divorce and bereavement.”
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Life is just a string of tragedies punctuated by brief moments of tranquility.”
“Life is mostly froth and bubble;/ Two things stand like stone:/ Kindness in another’s trouble,/ Courage in your own.”
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