Quotes About Meaning

Your resolution trumps your nihilism and despair.

Jordan B. Peterson

There is a high goal, a mountain peak, a star that shines in the darkness, beckoning above the horizon. Its mere existence gives you hope—and that is the meaning without which you cannot live.

Distress, whether psychic, physical, or intellectual, need not at all produce nihilism (that is, the radical rejection of value, meaning and desirability). Such distress always permits a variety of interpretations.

nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche so brilliantly noted, "He whose life has a why can bear almost any how."61

Thus emboldened, you will embark on the voyage of your life, let your light shine, so to speak, on the heavenly hill, and pursue your rightful destiny. Then the meaning of your life may be sufficient to keep the corrupting influence of mortal despair at bay. Then you may be able to accept the terrible burden of the World, and find joy.

The sense of meaning is an indicator that you are on that path.

Discipline and transformation will nonetheless lead you inexorably forward. With will and luck, you will find a story that is meaningful and productive, improves itself with time, and perhaps even provides you with more than a few moments of satisfaction and joy. With will and luck, you will be the hero of that story, the disciplined sojourner, the creative transformer, and the benefactor of your family and broader society. Imagine who you could be, and then aim single-mindedly at that.

the notion that it was good, well even if you don't believe that because maybe it's not as good as it could be. I would say it's incumbent on you as someone who participates in the process of furthering creation to act as if it could be good at least and to further that with all of your efforts. Partly because what the hell else do you have to do that could possible be better than that, that could possible justify your existence more than that?

have meaning in your life is better than to have what you want, because you may neither know what you want, nor what you truly need. Meaning is something that comes upon you, of its own accord. You can set up the preconditions, you can follow meaning, when it manifests itself, but you cannot simply produce it, as an act of will.

Adam," calls God, apparently forgetting that He can see through bushes,

We must bear a load, to justify our miserable existence.

Myths are the stories we tell ourselves about how we behave, when we don't know how it is we behave or even why.

Stretching yourself beyond the boundaries of your current self requires carefully choosing and then pursuing ideals: ideals that are up there, above you, superior to you—and that you can't always be sure you will reach. But if it's uncertain that our ideals are attainable, why do we bother reaching in the first place? Because if you don't reach for them, it is certain you will never feel that your life has meaning.

There's almost nothing better than character development. And aiming at having a good character is the highest aim, and it's the aim that will provide the most meaning in your life.

I act as if God exists.

I'd like to think that we're not just sacks of biological goo careening through a random universe.

Self-esteem. That's one of those catch-all terms that means nothing at all, but the mere mention of it leaves all the socially conscious liberal types nodding sagely and scratching their chins.

I did my best not to smirk. It blows my "Don't mind me, I never notice anything," smokescreen when I give in to smirkiness.

statistically noticeable" or "statistically detectable" instead of "statistically significant"! That would be truer to the meaning of the method,

Without the proper engagement in truth, your life will degenerate and you will end up embittered and in hell.

Life can be meaningful enough to justify its suffering

Renee was beautiful, but she was my friend now. On the other hand, Annette was my friend, but now she was beautiful. makes about as much sense as anything ever does with girls

I kept having those "What's the point of ...?" moments, but plugged away at life pretty consistently, anyway.