The
life is one of the omnipresent aspects that accompany human existence , but also possibly the most mysterious.

Throughout history, there have been many personalities who have wanted to limit part of the essence of life with a few phrases, but not many have succeeded in doing so.

40 Life Sentences for Understanding Self and Others

Below you can read
a selection of some of life’s best phrases . Thoughts about life that lend themselves to reflection and that can be used not only as a trigger for interesting debates, but also as a tool for personal transformation.

1. A good traveller has neither fixed plans nor the intention of arriving

Lao Tzu uses the classical metaphor in which life becomes a journey to better express the paradox of what he believes should be our life path. The mystical background behind his philosophy and the centuries that separate us from the era associated with Lao Tzu do not prevent it from being a reflection that is very applicable to our days.

2. Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often the result of a lack of wisdom

Terry Pratchett talks about wisdom and experience as elements that, by their presence or absence, are part of the engine of our existence . In this way, a reflection that seems to be about knowledge becomes another of those phrases in life that seem universal and applicable to any society.

3. Not to be dead is not to be alive

E. E. Cummings deals with a question of terminology that hides behind it something more transcendent than it first appears.

4. The starting point for all achievement is desire

As one of the pioneers of self-help,
Napoleon Hill formulated many reflections and phrases of life in which the theme of personal development, project management and the psychological aspects that lead us to achieve our objectives were addressed. This sentence is an example of this.

5. Unbroken happiness is boring; you must have alternatives

Molière , about happiness and the tension that exists between it and the emotional states that, without being part of it, are desirable.

6. True happiness costs little; if it is expensive, it is not of good quality

Chateaubriand , like many other thinkers, believes that happiness is not an item to which we have to direct all our plans and projects, but that it is spontaneous and is expressed in simple facts and actions .

7. Love the life you have so you can live the life you love

Another paradox with a philosophical background, this time from
Hussein Nishah . He poses the dialectical and non-sequential process of loving one’s life , something that does not respond to a plan of actions that we can follow step by step.

8. Life is to be enjoyed, not endured

The legacy of the religious
Gordon B. Hinckley is prodigious in phrases about life, and this is one of the most significant because of the simplicity with which he describes the essence of hedonistic philosophy .

9. Pessimism leads to weakness. Optimism leads to power

The psychologist
William James about the influence of mental states on our possibilities of action. A more or less optimistic approach can more or less expand our range of options.

10. You have to harden yourself without ever losing your tenderness

The Argentine revolutionary
Ernesto Che Guevara makes the quality of hardness fit, useful to face demanding projects and to claim ideals that are difficult to reach, with the tenderness and humanity necessary to live day by day in community .

11. Life is not a problem to be solved, it is a reality to be experienced

Soren Kierkegaard lets us see here some of the principles on which philosophical existentialism would later be erected: the value of existence over ideas and preconceived categories , and the lack of a predetermined life project.

12. Peace cannot be found by avoiding life

Virginia Woolf , about the need to know how to adapt to the context not only to be more functional, but to improve our well-being .

13. Where there’s love there’s life

Mahatma Gandhi believes that love is one of the inherent qualities of human life . It makes sense, since we are predisposed to live in the company of other people.

14. Life is simple, but we insist on making it complicated

Confucius , in one of life’s most famous phrases. His conception of the vital projects that can claim the attention of the human being is rather minimalist, emphasizing the value of simplicity .

15. Unexpected intrusions of beauty. That’s what life is all about

The Canadian writer
Saul Bellow , in one of the most curious and, therefore, interesting sentences in life .

16. Losing confidence in one’s body is losing confidence in oneself

Simone de Beauvoir , one of the referents of feminism and wife of the philosopher Jean Oaul Sartre, about the relationship between body and mind and our self-concept.

17. To define something is to limit it

Phrase of the Irish writer
Oscar Wilde , applicable to all aspects related to everyday life and also to more abstract concepts .

18. To grow is to lose certain illusions, in order to embrace others

The writer and thinker
Virginia Woolf , in one of her life sentences about life projects and the subjective.

19. The action expresses priorities

Another phrase from the pacifist leader
Gandhi , this time on those things to which we give more importance and towards which we direct our actions . A sentence that can help you to be happier.

20. Life is a blank canvas, and you should throw as much paint on it as you can

Danny Kane , about life and the possibilities it offers us: all those that can be traced with a brush on a blank surface .

21. Don’t live in the past, don’t dream about the future, concentrate your mind on the present moment

One of the phrases about the life of Buddha , in which he stresses the importance of living the present with full awareness.

22. Life is not about finding oneself, but about creating oneself

A phrase from the Irish writer
George Bernard Shaw s on the process of personal development.

23. We don’t remember the days, we remember the moments

A reflection and an inspiring sentence by the Italian writer
Cesare Pavese .

24. The purpose of our lives is to be happy

One of the most direct and forceful phrases about life in
Dalai Lama .

25. The good life is that which is inspired by love and guided by knowledge

The Philosopher
Bertrand Russell establishes the relationship between knowledge and love as the engine of the good life.

26. Where love reigns, laws abound

One of the most remembered phrases of the Greek philosopher Plato, about the good of making bonds and commitments based on love, an element that can replace the law when it comes to the cohesion of groups and societies.

27. The obstacle is the path

A Zen proverb in which those difficulties that come our way are, in themselves, the means by which we advance in our personal development .

28. Great results require great ambitions

Another of the phrases about life born in Ancient Greece. This one, in particular, is by the philosopher Heraclitus.

29. The heart has reasons that reason ignores

A phrase from the philosopher Blaise Pascal. There is an invisible logic behind the acts promoted by love .

30. We become what we think about

A reflection of Earl Nightingale. Our actions form our identity.

31. Looks back and smiles at past dangers

A phrase from Walter Scott: one of the good things about going through difficult situations is that, seen in retrospect, they make us great.

32. Life is like jazz… it is much better if it is improvised

A phrase about life devised by the musician George Gershwin.

33. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it

Well-known reflection about the active role that is necessary to consider oneself really free . The sentence is by Charles S. Windoll.

34. If you love your life, your life will correspond to you with love

One of the most joyful phrases about life. This one is by Arthur Rubinstein.

35. You cannot have a positive life if you keep a negative mind

This original reflection is by Joyce Meyer, and refers to the importance of mentality when interpreting our experiences .

36. The greatest adventure you can embark on is to live the life of your dreams

This phrase from Oprah Winfrey tells us about the courage that is needed to make our actions match our desires.

37. Without music, life would be a mistake

One of the best known sentences about life by the influential philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

38. Choose a job that you are passionate about and you will never work again for a day in your life

Another sentence of Confucius; in this case he talks about the good of turning work into a pleasure in which we can be totally involved.

39. Life is either a great adventure or nothing

A phrase about life devised by Helen Keller. Like other quotes, it refers to the need to make what we do have a meaningful purpose , one that is greater than ourselves.

40. The simplicity of life consists in being oneself

A line from Bobby Brown. Sometimes, acting as we are makes us enter into dynamics that make us move away from our real purposes.

Do you know any more phrases to reflect on life?

The selection of life phrases ends here. If you know other reflections and think they should be included in the list,
you can leave them in the comments section so that we can expand the article.

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