Life is a journey filled with lessons, hardships, and growth. Throughout the ages, philosophers, writers, and thinkers have sought to share their wisdom about living a meaningful and fulfilling life through thoughtful words and quotes. These powerful sayings manage to capture profound truths about existence, happiness, love, purpose, and what it means to be human. They provide timeless advice and insight that stands the test of time.
In this article, we have collected some of the most inspirational, insightful, and impactful wisdom quotes about life and living. From ancient philosophers like Socrates to modern influencers like Oprah Winfrey, these quotes contain kernels of truth and guidance for navigating life’s ups and downs. Each quote offers a piece of wisdom to carry with you through the grand adventure of life.
Famous Wisdom Quotes About Life
Live in the present, remember the past, and fear not the future, for it doesn’t exist and never shall. There is only now. – Christopher Paolini
Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. – John Lennon
Get busy living or get busy dying. – Stephen King
The unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. – Mae West
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. – Thomas A. Edison
If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things. – Albert Einstein
Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. – Babe Ruth
Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there. – Will Smith
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. – Steve Jobs
Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing. – Seneca
If life were predictable, it would cease to be life, and be without flavor. – Eleanor Roosevelt
The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it. – Henry Ford
In order to write about life, first you must live it. – Ernest Hemingway
The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything. – Frank Sinatra
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
Sing like no one’s listening, love like you’ve never been hurt, dance like nobody’s watching, and live like it’s heaven on earth. – Mark Twain
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. – Confucius
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. – Buddha
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. – Dr. Seuss
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. – Helen Keller
Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. – Albert Einstein
Love the life you live. Live the life you love. – Bob Marley
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. – Joseph Campbell
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. – George Bernard Shaw
Whatever you do, do it well. – Walt Disney
Life is a journey, not a destination. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The purpose of our lives is to be happy. – Dalai Lama
The unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates
Turn your wounds into wisdom. – Oprah Winfrey
The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. – Pablo Picasso
Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change. – Wayne Dyer
Life isn’t about getting and having, it’s about giving and being. – Kevin Kruse
Life is a flower of which love is the honey. – Victor Hugo
Don’t take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive. – Elbert Hubbard
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on. – Robert Frost
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill
Life is truly known only to those who suffer, lose, endure adversity, and stumble from defeat to defeat. – Anais Nin
Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. – Joshua J. Marine
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. – Kahlil Gibran
Your outer journey may contain a million steps; your inner journey only has one: the step you are taking right now. – Eckhart Tolle
Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. – Marilyn Monroe
Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise. – Kobe Bryant
Live in the present, remember the past, and fear not the future, for it doesn’t exist and never shall. There is only now. – Christopher Paolini
Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. – Charles Swindoll
True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. – Socrates
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. – Robert Louis Stevenson
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. – Steve Jobs
Whoever is happy will make others happy too. – Anne Frank
You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated. – Maya Angelou
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. – Nelson Mandela
In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. – Abraham Lincoln
Read More: 50 Wise Kung Fu Panda Quotes That Will Motivate You
Wisdom Quotes About Life And Struggles
We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. – Kenji Miyazawa
Only in the darkness can you see the stars. – Martin Luther King Jr.
Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. – C.S. Lewis
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. – Eleanor Roosevelt
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I will try again tomorrow’. – Mary Anne Radmacher
Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness. – Susan Gale
The struggle you are in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. – Robert Tew
There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time. – Malcolm X
Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. – Napoleon Hill
If you are going through hell, keep going. – Winston Churchill
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. – African Proverb
A bend in the road is not the end of the road…unless you fail to make the turn. – Helen Keller
We acquire the strength we have overcome. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every struggle in your life has shaped you into the person you are today. Be thankful for the hard times, they can only make you stronger.” – Pravinee Hurbungs
There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind. – C.S. Lewis
Scars mean you fought and survived. There’s no shame in that. – Julie Sondra Decker
You can’t calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass. ― Timber Hawkeye
It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it. – Lou Holtz
The struggle ends when the gratitude begins. – Neale Donald Walsch
There are better starters than me but I’m a strong finisher. – Usain Bolt
A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure. – Henry Kissinger
It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success. – David Feherty
Storms make trees take deeper roots. – Dolly Parton
The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all. – Walt Disney Company
Wisdom Quotes About Life And Happiness
Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be. – Abraham Lincoln
Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions. – Dalai Lama
Joy is the simplest form of gratitude. – Karl Barth
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. – Marcus Aurelius
Happiness depends upon ourselves. – Aristotle
Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. – Roy Goodman
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. – Mahatma Gandhi
Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it. – Greg Anderson
Happiness is not by chance, but by choice. – Jim Rohn
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. – Albert Schweitzer
With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy? – Oscar Wilde
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will. – Epictetus
Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower, and draws all good things toward you. – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated. – William James
Being happy doesn’t mean everything’s perfect. It means you have decided to look beyond the imperfections. – Unknown
Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else wants you to be different. – Stacey Charter
Wisdom Quotes About Life And Success
The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. – Colin R. Davis
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. – Dale Carnegie
Success usually comes to those who are too busy looking for it. – Henry David Thoreau
The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything. – Warren Buffett
I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. – Benjamin Franklin
Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. – Conrad Hilton
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. – Vidal Sassoon
Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value. – Albert Einstein
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. – Herman Melville
Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill
Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. – Jim Rohn
Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world. – Roy T. Bennett
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. – Tim Notke
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. – Jimmy Johnson
The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere. – Barack Obama
Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough. – Og Mandino
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Albert Schweitzer
Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. – William Feather
Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again. – Richard Branson
If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. – Jim Rohn
Success is how high you bounce after you hit bottom. – George S. Patton
I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. – Florence Nightingale
Wisdom Quotes About Life From The Bible
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. – Proverbs 9:10
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. – Proverbs 3:5
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. – Proverbs 18:21
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. – Proverbs 17:22
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. – Proverbs 19:17
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. – Philippians 4:6
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. – Psalm 23:1
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18
A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother. – Proverbs 10:1
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. – Proverbs 12:15
Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. – Isaiah 46:4
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. – Proverbs 16:18
The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. – Proverbs 12:26
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. – Proverbs 15:1
In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. – Proverbs 20:24
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. – Galatians 6:7
A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak. – Ecclesiastes 3:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. – Proverbs 1:7
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. – Proverbs 17:17
Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. – Proverbs 15:16
A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. – Proverbs 22:1
The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. – Proverbs 22:3
A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult. – Proverbs 12:16
The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly. – Proverbs 15:2
A person’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way? – Proverbs 20:24
Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity, and the rod they wield in fury will be broken. – Proverbs 22:8
The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of sense. – Proverbs 10:21
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