Quotes About Meaning

People find meaning and redemption in the most unusual human connections.

If you're sending a message to extraterrestrials, what you want to send is what's special about us and our planet - what is unusual. Now, that's not basic chemistry or mineralogy; it's pretty much the cultural stuff and the consequences of evolution.

As I said before, there are often disagreements as to what a particular set of facts mean. That is not at all unusual, and one shouldn't read into it more than is there.

In my dictionary, and everyone's dictionary in the 1970s, the word 'queer' did mean strange and unusual. There was no slur to it.

I like the name Engelbert. It's unusual. But Humperdinck? Not so much.

Great design is so many things all at the same time. It is emotional, functional, and responsive. It creates an unwritten dialogue, a connection, between itself and those who experience it. It is open to interpretation yet created for a specific purpose. It creates meaning and value.

I don't mind if other people call me an atheist, but I call myself a naturalist. Atheism doesn't tell you much about what I do believe in; the term naturalist opens up the discussion better.

Sometimes I do find myself out there, looking for answers. But maybe there are no answers, maybe there is no rhyme or reason. Thats life, its up and down and Ive had my fair share of both.

Although I'm perceived as very optimistic and upbeat, it comes out of being the opposite of that - feeling isolated or lonely, looking for meaning and the kinds of things that ease that suffering in life, and finding them in large-scale social interaction, like theater and games.

An upbeat song, for example, means one thing, but when you hear it with really vibey, mellow ambience around it, suddenly the same words may mean something else. Music is so powerful that way: It dictates and soundtracks our moods.

Because of my Calvinistic upbringing, I was trained to think that what you do has to have a purpose.

I could have easily said that I don't believe in anything when I came out of the upbringing that I had, but I do still believe that there is something there, and I have a difficult time figuring it out. I suppose I don't want to be thought of as stupid or unintelligent because I believe that there's something out there bigger than us in the world.

I feel a responsibility to myself, and not so much for the world at large. Because of my Calvinistic upbringing, I was trained to think that what you do has to have a purpose.

I didn't really have a religious upbringing in my life, which was tough at times because I was searching for some kind of meaning, but it also gave me an avenue to find my own sense of connection.

I try to present something that is full of time. Not timeless, but full of time. I never like a work where we try to update it, but it's still not interesting to see a work that is dated. If one is successful, then a work can be full of time. And time is very complex.

The Constitution I uphold and defend is the one I carry in my pocket all the time, the U.S. Constitution. I don't know what Constitution that other members of Congress uphold, but it's not this one. I think the only Constitution that Barack Obama upholds is the Soviet constitution, not this one.

One man's uplift is another man's sentimental hooey.

I find the ones that have the most emotional weight, the heaviest songs. For some reason, for me, they're usually the ones I write the quickest. I put more work into uplifting material, I think, sometimes.

It's bizarre how the most powerful, moving things in the world, there's no money. But that's going to be the most uplifting thing in anyone's life. There's not going to be a paycheck.

In the publishing sense, 'urban fantasy' does not mean 'black,' and that's pretty ironic, considering that it's a euphemism everywhere else. It would be great to get that back.

They say country music stands for more than the rural life. It's about life, period, whether lived in a high-rise or a hollow. I don't think rural or urban has that much to do with it.

I feel French is very close to Urdu. Both languages are beautiful. Sadly, their beauty is lost in translation.

Remember that there is meaning beyond absurdity. Know that every deed counts, that every word is power...Above all, remember that you must build your life as if it were a work of art.

Effort is one of those things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it.