Meaning of life

Explore 14 quotes about Meaning of life

The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything...it's Forty-two.

Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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Topic

Meaning of life

Author

Douglas Adams

Source

Fit the Fourth The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Medium

Novel

Genre

Science fiction

Statement Type

Joke

Language

English

Time

1978 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, Douglas. "Fit the Fourth." The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Primary Phase. BBC Radio 4, London, England, UK, 29 Mar. 1978.

Current Citation

Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Pan Books, 1979, ch. 31.

There ain't any answer, there ain't going to be any answer, there never has been any answer, that’s the answer.

Gertrude Stein

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Topic

Meaning of life

Author

Gertrude Stein

Source

Brewsie and Willie

Language

English

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stein, Gertrude. Brewsie and Willie. Random House, 1946, ch. 5.

It's not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It's the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our lives, from which we make our choices, is very good stuff.

Fred Rogers

More information about this quote

Topic

What really matters Recognition Achievement Success Meaning of life

Speaker

Fred Rogers

Source

2002 Dartmouth commencement address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Commencement address

Language

English

Time

2002 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rogers, Fred. Commencement address to the Dartmouth Class of 2002. Commencement cermony. 2002, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.

The philosophy which is so important in each of us is not a technical matter; it is our more or less dumb sense of what life honestly and deeply means. It is only partly got from books; it is our individual way of just seeing and feeling the total push and pressure of the cosmos.

William James

Pragmatism

More information about this quote

Topic

Worldview Meaning of life

Author

William James

Source

Pragmatism

Genre

Philosophical speech

Language

English

Time

1906 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

James, William. "The Present Dilemma in Philosophy." Nov. 1906, Lowell Institute, Boston, MA, USA. Lecture.

Current Citation

James, William. "The Present Dilemma in Philosophy." Pragmatism. Dover Publications, 2018.

The meaning of life is the most urgent of questions.

Albert Camus

The Myth of Sisyphus

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Topic

Meaning of life The big questions

Author

Albert Camus

Source

The Myth of Sisyphus

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Camus, Albert. Le Mythe de Sisyphe [The Myth of Sisyphus]. Éditions Gallimard, 1942.

When a man sees his end, he wants to know there was some purpose to his life.

Gladiator

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Topic

Looking back Purpose of life Meaning of life

Speaker

Marcus Aurelius

Actor

Richard Harris

Source

Gladiator

Medium

Film

Genre

Historical drama (film) Drama (film) Historical drama Drama

Language

English

Time

2000 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gladiator. Directed by Ridley Scott. DreamWorks Pictures/ Scott Free Productions/Universal Pictures/Red Wagon Entertainment, 2000.

How many times have you noticed that it's the little quiet moments in the midst of life that seem to give the rest extra-special meaning?

Fred Rogers

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Topic

Special moments Stillness Meaning of life

Author

Fred Rogers

Source

The World According to Mister Rogers

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Rogers, Fred. The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember. Hachette Books, 2019, p. 22.

Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.

Viktor Frankl

Man's Search for Meaning

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Topic

Meaning of life Life The human condition

Author

Viktor Frankl

Source

Man's Search for Meaning

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

German

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Frankl, Victor. …trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager [Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy]. Verlag für Jugend und Volk, 1946.

Current Citation

Frankl, Victor. Man's Search for Meaning. Beacon Press, 2006.

That life is worth living is the most necessary of assumptions and, were it not assumed, the most impossible of conclusions.

George Santayana

The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress

More information about this quote

Topic

Meaning of life Absurdity of life Life

Author

George Santayana

Source

The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1905 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Santayana, George. The Life of Reason: Introduction and Reason in Common Sense, edited by Marianne S. Wokeck and Martin A. Coleman. Vol. 7, The MIT Press, 2011, bk. 1, ch. 10. Originally published by Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905.

But people will do anything rather than admit that their lives have no meaning. No use, that is. No plot.

Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale

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Topic

Meaning of life Existential terror Meaninglessness

Author

Margaret Atwood

Source

The Handmaid's Tale

Medium

Novel

Genre

Dystopian fiction

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland and Stewart/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1985, ch. 33.

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the “why” for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any “how.”

Viktor Frankl

Man's Search for Meaning

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Topic

Purpose of life Meaning of life

Author

Viktor Frankl

Source

Man's Search for Meaning

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

German

Time

1946 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Frankl, Victor. …trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager [Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy]. Verlag für Jugend und Volk, 1946.

Current Citation

Frankl, Victor. Man's Search for Meaning. Beacon Press, 2006.

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Douglas Adams

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

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Topic

Purpose of life Meaning of life The universe

Author

Douglas Adams

Source

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Medium

Novel

Genre

Science fiction

Language

English

Time

1980 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Adams, Douglas. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Pan Books, 1980, introductory paragraph.

The crown of life is neither happiness nor annihilation; it is understanding.

Winifred Holtby

More information about this quote

Topic

Meaning of life

Speaker

Winifred Holtby

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Holtby, Winifred. Quoted in Testament of Friendship: The Story of Winifred Holtby, written by Vera Brittain. Macmillan & Co., 1940.

The universe is a cruel, uncaring void. The key to being happy isn't to search for meaning. It's to just keep yourself busy with unimportant nonsense, and eventually, you'll be dead.

Bojack Horseman

More information about this quote

Topic

Meaning of life Happiness The human condition

Speaker

Mr. Peanutbutter

Actor

Paul F. Tompkins

Source

Bojack Horseman

Medium

TV program

Genre

Drama (TV) Comedy (TV) Drama Comedy

Language

English

Time

2014 2010s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

"Later." BoJack Horseman, written by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, directed by Martin Cendreda, season 1, episode 12, ShadowMachine and Tornante Company, 2014.