#purpose

It is not a single cowardice that drives us into fiction's fantasies. We often fear that literature is a game we can't afford to play — the product of idleness and immoral ease. In the grip of that feeling it isn't life we pursue, but the point and purpose of life — its facility, its use. ↗

— William H. Gass

#indolence #luxury #purpose #utility #life

Our purpose is to be up here to resolve these issues. Our purpose is to be up here and represent the people. ↗

— Allen West

#issues #our #people #purpose #represent

People need a sacred narrative. They must have a sense of larger purpose, in one form or another, however intellectualized. They will find a way to keep ancestral spirits alive. ↗

— E. O. Wilson

#ancestral #another #find #form #however

The tendency of philosophers who know nothing of machinery is to talk of man as a mere mechanism, intending by this to imply that he is without purpose. This shows a lack of understanding of machines as well as of man. ↗

— Arthur Young

#intending #know #lack #machinery #machines

You know, the immortality of the soul, free will and all that -- it's all very amusing to talk about up to the age of twenty-two, but not after that. Then one ought to be giving one's mind to having fun without catching the pox, arranging one's life as comfortably as possible, having a few decent drawings on the wall, and above all writing well. That's the important thing: well-made sentences...and then a few metaphors. Yes, a few metaphors. They embellish a man's existence. ↗

— Théophile Gautier

#writing-philosophy #age

This much is true: When you are about to effect the lives of hundreds of people, Satan will do everything he can to prevent it from happening. Often pride and anger are his best assassins. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#charity #life-missions #life-purpose #organizations #satan

Possibilities are a mysterious beauty. They tease us to explore while our inner child cheers because an adventure is waiting. ↗

— Jeanne McElvaney

#being-happy #change-your-life #gotospirit-com #jeanne-mcelvaney #life-purpose

When we shift from trying to figure it out to feeling our way, insight arrives. ↗

— Jeanne McElvaney

#change-your-life #gotospirit-com #jeanne-mcelvaney #life-purpose #old-maggie-s-spirit-whispers

I don’t for a moment think I am any braver or better than anybody else. This is how I attempt to explain what gives me the strength to do what I do; when that thunderbolt of an idea first hit me and inspired me to row across oceans, it filled me with a sense of purpose so strong that it overcame my fears. Even when boredom, frustration, fatigue or despair threatened to overwhelm me, it was that powerful sense of purpose that kept me going. ↗

— Roz Savage

#courage #fatigue #inspiration #motivation #sense-of-purpose

Quite possibly, the purpose of the universe is to provide a congenial home for self-conscious creatures who can ask profound questions and who can probe the nature of the universe itself. ↗

— Owen Gingerich

#profundity #purpose #self-consciousness #universe #home