The sooner you understand your life, the better person you can be in the future. It will help you make better choices, understand consequences, and navigate life’s complexities. However, to understand your life, you have to read various books on the wisdom of life.
I can’t provide you with those books, but I can help you with the best wise quotes and sayings about life.
I’ve gathered more than one hundred wise sayings and quotes on living that will help you understand your existence and how to survive and succeed.
Whether you are in your twenties, thirties, or forties, these quotes can help you become a better leader in your own life.
The Wise Sayings About Life to Understand Your Existence
1. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
Abraham Lincoln
2. “Pain can change you, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a bad change. Take that pain and turn it into wisdom.”
Dalai Lama
3. “The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That’s the day we truly grow up.”
John C. Maxwell
4. “When looking for wise words, the best ones often come from our elders.”
Catherine Pulsifer
5. “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
6. “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
Soren Kierkegaard
7. “Do not be wise in words to be wise in deeds.”
Jewish Proverb
8. “A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.”
Albert Einstein
9. “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
10. “Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.”
—Dalai Lama
11. “You can never plan the future by the past.”
—Edmund Burke
12. “Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
13. “Lost time is never found again.”
—Benjamin Franklin
14. “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”
Scott Hamilton
15. “Life is ten per cent what happens to you and ninety per cent how you respond to it.”
Lou Holtz
16. “Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.”
William James
17. “Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”
Hermann Hesse
18. “Don’t waste your time with explanations, people only hear what they want to hear.”
Paulo Coelho
19. “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
Confucius
20. “Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out of it alive.”
—Elbert Hubbard
21. “Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
Helen Keller
22. “I not only use all the brains that I have but all that I can borrow.”
Woodrow Wilson
23. “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”
Albert Einstein
24. “He that respects himself is safe from others.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
25. “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”
—Robert Frost
26. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
George Bernard Shaw
27. “There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
Mahatma Gandhi
28. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’.”
Audrey Hepburn
29. “Earth has no balm that can cure the loneliness of the human spirit.”
Billy Graham
30. “There are three constants in life…change, choice and principles.”
Stephen Covey
Inspiring Wise Quotes about life
31. “To make difficult decisions wisely, it helps to have a systematic process for assessing each choice and its consequences – the potential impact on each aspect of your life.”
Stedman Graham
32. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
Leo Buscaglia
33. “The hardnesses of our experiences, which seem to us to be more than we can possibly endure, make the very school of life for us in which we learn our best lessons and grow into whatever beauty and Christlikeness of character we attain.”
Al Bryant
34. “A word from the wise – from those who have had experience in life – is far more valuable than many realize. If we are wise we will take it and make use of it, thus saving ourselves much time and grief.”
Dorothea S. Kopplin
35. “Which way you choose to see your life in the future depends on your attitude today.”
Amy E. Dean
36. “The greatest chapters in history always begin with risk, and the same is true with the chapters of your life.”
Mark Batterson
37. “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”
Dalai Lama
38. “Each of us experiences defeats in life. We can transform defeat into victory if we learn from life’s whuppings.”
Les Brown
39. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
40. “The legacy you leave is the life you lead. We lead our lives daily, and we leave a legacy daily – not some grand plan, what we do each and every day, all the little decisions because we never know what impact things will have or when you might have an impact.”
Jim Kouzes
41. “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
—Mark Twain
42. “By the way, you want to live your life in such a way that the friend(s) you turn to know that you would do the same for them if the situation were reversed.”
Wally Amos
43. “Life often teaches us through our wrong turns and missed possibilities.”
Anne Wilson
44. “When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
45. “Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one’s aim.”
John D. Rockefeller
46. “God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”
Voltaire
47. “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.”
Maya Angelou
48. “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.”
Oprah Winfrey
49. “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
Henry Ford
50. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.”
Amelia Earhart
51. “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them–that only creates sorrow. Let reality be the reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
Lao Tzu
52. “What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.”
Wayne Dyer
53. “Meditation is about viewing the world with great clarity so you can make wise decisions. It will help you make the appropriate action with regard to things that you have to change.”
Mia Conrad
54. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
John F. Kennedy
55. “Life often teaches us through our wrong turns and missed possibilities.”
Anne Wilson
56. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Winston Churchill
57. “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
58. “Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.”
John F. Kennedy
59. “Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It’s a journey of discovery–there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair.”
Rick Warren
60. “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”
Jim Rohn
Wise Proverbs on Living Your Life
61. “Live life to the fullest, and focus on the positive.”
Matt Cameron
62. “There is no passion to be found playing small–in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
Nelson Mandela
63. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan
64. “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.”
C. S. Lewis
65. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Thomas A. Edison
66. “People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how the character is built.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
67. “Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure.”
Paulo Coelho
68. “Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.”
Thomas Jefferson
69. “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavour.”
Vince Lombardi
70. “Today is the life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.”
Dale Carnegie
71. “Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.”
Brian Tracy
72. “Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.”
Vivian Komori
73. “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.”
Tony Robbins
74. “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”
Robert Frost
75. “We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
76. “Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner.”
Les Brown
77. “The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.”
Aristotle
78. “Each life is made up of mistakes and learning, waiting and growing, practising patience and being persistent.”
Billy Graham
79. “My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose–somehow we win out.”
Ronald Reagan
80. “Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out of it alive.”
Elbert Hubbard
81. “But what I’ve discovered over time is that some of the wisest people I know have also been some of the most broken people.”
James Prescott
82. “It is far better to give work that is above a person than to educate the person to be above their work.”
John Ruskin
83. “We tend to think of great thinkers and innovators as soloists, but the truth is that the greatest innovative thinking doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Innovation results from collaboration.”
John C. Maxwell
84. “Self-Improvement and success go hand in hand. Taking the steps to make yourself a better and more well-rounded individual will prove to be a wise decision.”
Frank Long
85. “A very wise woman, Eleanor Roosevelt, famously once said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Truly dwell on the wisdom of that philosophical statement for a moment.”
Ian Tuhovsky
86. “The wise person feels the pain of one arrow. The unwise feels the pain of two.”
Kate Carne
87. “You’ve heard that it’s wise to learn from experience, but it is wiser to learn from the experience of others.”
Rick Warren
88. “To be wise, we must seek Jesus, for we will not find wisdom apart from him.”
Kim Brenneman
89. “What you do and say lives on in the hearts and minds of others, to some degree, with a definite result or consequence.”
Charles F. Stanley
90. “The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”
Paulo Coelho
Inspiring Wise Quotes to Understand Life
91. “Thus, a wise individual is the one who learns to see the positive even in unfavorable events and unanticipated behavior of people.”
92. “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
Bruce Lee
93. “Big-picture thinkers are comfortable with ambiguity. They don’t try to force every observation or piece of data into pre-formulated mental cubby holes.”
John C. Maxwell
94. “A significant part of showing respect is simply listening. We offer our presence and open ears – listening to the hidden hurts and heartaches, the deepest dreams and desires of one another.”
Rick Warren
95. “Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”
George Orwell
96. “Though age stereotyping is usually cruel (the old are forgetful, sad, weak, cranky, unattractive, boring), it can sometimes be kind (the old are wise) or even directed at the young (millennials are snowflakes).”
Carl Honore
97. “That is ever the difference between the wise and the unwise: the latter wonders at what is unusual; the wise man wonders at the usual.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
98. “It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
99. “People who are generous are constantly giving things away: courage, money, introductions – whatever is needed. Look around today and see what you have in abundance that others might be lacking.”
David Jeremiah
100. “We never have more than we can bear. The present hour we are always able to endure.”
H. E. Manning
101. “When you are in conversation with other people, choose your words wisely. Your words have great power and you should be aware of this.”
Daniel Smith
102. “The wise lack for nothing. The foolish, meanwhile, cannot make good use of anything.”
Camille Alice, A Book of Grace- Filled Days
103. “When faced with a crisis, winners not only work on resolving it, but try to find something beneficial in the situation. In the midst of chaos, they manage to discover that fine vein of positive thinking that can lead to new chances for success.”
Dr. Irene C. Kassorla
104. “While it is impossible to forget the past, it is necessary that we leave the past where it was. We are not the same people that we was then.”
Quirky Grandma
105. “Attitude, to me, is more important than money. It is more important than the future, the past, education, circumstances, failure, success, it is even more important than what other people think or say.”
Brad Hanson
106. “By three things the wise person may be known. What three? He sees a shortcoming as it is. When he sees it, he tries to correct it. And when another acknowledges a shortcoming, the wise one forgives it as he should.”
Buddha
107. “Be wiser than other people, if you can; but do not tell them so.”
Lord Chesterfield
108. “For me, a sense of prosperity often comes with less rather than more.”
Lori Hill
109. “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
Aristotle
110. “Reading is one of the most important activities, which helps to educate genius and develop creative abilities.”
111. “There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
112. “When a thing is done, it’s done. Don’t look back. Look forward to your next objective.”
George C. Marshall
113. “Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”
Henry Van Dyke
114. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
Nelson Mandela
115. “Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.”
C. S. Lewis
116. “I not only use all the brains that I have but all that I can borrow.” Woodrow Wilson
117. “When you are in conversation with other people, choose your words wisely. Your words have great power and you should be aware of this.”
Daniel Smith
118. “The wise lack for nothing. The foolish, meanwhile, cannot make good use of anything.”
Camille Alice
119. “Earth has no balm that can cure the loneliness of the human spirit.”
Billy Graham
120. “While it is impossible to forget the past, it is necessary that we leave the past where it was. We are not the same people that we were then.”
Quirky Grandma
121. “Never seem wiser, nor more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not merely pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.”
Lord Chesterfield
122. “You are a citizen of the world, and when you stop the labelling process you will begin to see God in every garden, every forest, every home, every creature, and every person, and inner peace will be your reward.”
Wayne W. Dyer
123. “Remember that the habits you are trying to alter developed for a reason. If you continue to drift back into them, take some time to examine the circumstances.”
Henry Lee
124. “Sometimes, arguments end simply by accepting that you don’t agree with the other party. Instead of trying to sway the other person to agree with you, you just have to accept your differences.”
James Christiansen
125. “Each person must live their life as a model for others.”
Rosa Parks
126. “In simple manners, all the secret lies. Be kind and virtuous, you’ll be blest and wise.”
Benjamin Franklin
127. “Don’t aspire to be in these shoes. Walk-in your own. Everyone’s unique, and that’s what makes people exciting to watch. . . savour what you are and not what everyone else wants you to be.”
Sandra Bullock
128. “Just because you are given free will to expose yourself, it is not acceptable to step on someone else’s reputation, brag about what you achieved and/ or speak sarcastically toward others.”
Faith Starr
129. “A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.”
Buddha
130. “The wisest man is he who does not believe he is wise.”
131. “While planning for the future is a worthy endeavour, you have to also enjoy the moment and cultivate the of deciding when to toggle between present and future from the experiences of the past.”
Brian Maddox
132. “The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”
George Santayana
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I’m Murshid Akram, a introvert who love reading and sharing positive vibes through quotes and sayings. I believe with love and compassion we can make this world a better place.