Quotes About Meaning

Our younger selves think in terms of a beginning, middle, and some kind of resolution. But somewhere along the way—perhaps in that middle—we realize that everyone lives with things that may not get worked out. That the middle has to be the resolution, and how we make meaning of it becomes our task.

Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and experience something before its meaning becomes apparent.

I want some sign of the scar tissue left behind. I want to know, in the end, that I mattered.

Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and experience something before its meaning becomes apparent. It's one thing to talk about leaving behind a restrictive mindset. It's another to stop being so restrictive.

The more you welcome your vulnerability," Wendell had said, "the less afraid you'll feel." This isn't how we tend to view life when we're younger. Our younger selves think in terms of a beginning, middle, and some kind of resolution. But somewhere along the way—perhaps in that middle—we realize that everyone lives with things that may not get worked out. That the middle has to be the resolution, and how we make meaning of it becomes our task.

There's a biblical saying that translates roughly as 'First you will do, then you will understand.' Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and experience something before its meaning becomes apparent. It's one thing to talk about leaving behind a restrictive mindset. It's another to stop being so restrictive. The transfer of words into action, the freedom of it, made me want to carry the action outside the therapy room and into my life.

You seem depressed," she said with concern. I said I wasn't depressed; I was just bored. I hadn't considered that if the only thing that keeps you going all day is knowing you'll get to turn on the TV after dinner, you probably are depressed.

There is no such thing as a perfect name.

I did not very often consider the reasons my father died. I didn't believe his life was taken to instill some larger meaning in my character, or make me a better person. I preferred to believe that a person might be taken for no reason other than the random winds of chance, the same forces that could create a brilliant sky after a terrible storm.

Seeing how a hand carves out meaning with a pencil point lets us remember that the human touch is essential.

Her trut meant more to him than he could have possibly imagined. But how the hell was he supposed to keep this light when everything about it felt more like... everything?

If you have a why to live for… you can tolerate any how.

Molly was arrested. Possession." I blinked at him. "She was possessed?

Hell's bells. I don't call him the Fist of God as a pet name, folks.

Souls, I said. I mean, you always wonder if they're real. Even if you believe in them, you still have to wonder: Is my existence just this body? Is there really something more? Do I really have a soul? Uriel's smile blossomed again. You've got it backward, Harry, he said. You are a soul. You have a body.

Demonreach only wants Harry to see what's going on. Why doesn't it just marry him? Thomas muttered under his breath. It sort of did, I said. My brother the... geosexual?

Everyone dies, honey, I said, very quietly. Everyone. There's no 'if.' There's only 'when.' I let that sink in for a moment. When you die, do you want to feel ashamed of what you've done with your life? Feel ashamed of what your life meant?

Survival was not enough. One had to live.

An inferior sense of smell, Marcus said, as if absolutely nothing of significance had happened, is distinct from being told that one smells unpleasant.

Tonight you will be visited by three spirits. The ghosts of indictment past, present, and future. They will teach you the true meaning of 'you are still a scumbag criminal.

Like life is short," he said. "Like you don't know when it's going to end. Like some things, left unsaid, can't ever be said.

Significance is cumulative—but not always obvious.

In the void, there is no distinction of east and west. Gwen blinked slightly at that. I know all of those words, and yet when strung together like that I have no idea what they mean.

We all must die, Dresden. There is no shame in dying for something worthwhile.