Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time.

Sometimes it seems as if there are more solutions than problems. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that many of today’s problems are a result of yesterday’s solutions.

The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.

The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.

I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.

Absence and death are the same – only that in death there is no suffering.

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.

The next time someone tells you we can trim the budget by cutting aid, I hope you will ask whether it will come at the cost of more people dying.

Sweet is the memory of past troubles.

Life, an age to the miserable, and a moment to the happy.

I live in a crazy time.

Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.

In my younger days, I was trying to write sophisticated prose and fantastic stories.

Men are never really willing to die except for the sake of freedom: therefore they do not believe in dying completely.

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, ‚darkness‘ on the walls of his cell.

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

I haven’t written my own epitaph, and I’m not sure I should. Whatever it is, I hope it will be simple, and that it will point people not to me, but to the One I served.

If there is a transmigration of souls then I am not yet on the bottom rung. My life is a hesitation before birth.

Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.

A minute of thought is greater than an hour of talk.

We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.

The squandering of oil and gas is associated with one of the greatest tragedies, not in the least resolved, which is suffered by humankind: climate change.

Life is precious.

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened.

Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.

Let us all remember this: one cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of one’s life.

All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.

Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love.

Woman, or more precisely put, perhaps, marriage, is the representative of life with which you are meant to come to terms.

No matter how prepared you think you are for the death of a loved one, it still comes as a shock, and it still hurts very deeply.

Superstition is the poetry of life.

The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason.

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.

I’m not trying to follow a set of rules and stuff. I’m just living my life.

I seldom think of politics more than eighteen hours a day.

Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.

Evolution can go to hell as far as I am concerned. What a mistake we are. We have mortally wounded this sweet life-supporting planet – the only one in the whole Milky Way – with a century of transportation whoopee.

I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.

Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead.

Auschwitz stands as a tragic reminder of the terrible potential man has for violence and inhumanity.

Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.

Respect is one of life’s greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don’t have that?

Life is an adventure, it’s not a package tour.

My whole life is a theater piece.

Contention existed before the earth was formed.

If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.

When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.

Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.

There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.

Whoever blushes is already guilty; true innocence is ashamed of nothing.

I second-guess and overthink and rethink every single thing that I do.

We think that life develops spontaneously on Earth, so it must be possible for life to develop on suitable planets elsewhere in the universe. But we don’t know the probability that a planet develops life.

The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon truth.

Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.

Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you’d never complete your life, would you? You’d never wholly know you.

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.

When you have nobody you can make a cup of tea for, when nobody needs you, that’s when I think life is over.

I was brought up to try to see what was wrong and right it. Since I am a writer, writing is how I right it.

I suppose, in a way, this has become part of my soul. It is a symbol of my life. Whatever I have done that really matters, I’ve done wearing it. When the time comes, it will be in this that I journey forth. What greater honor could come to an American, and a soldier?