Quotes About Purpose

We had these sudden revelations that employment, the daily nine-to-five, was driving us far from our better selves.

I wish I could tell you. I wish I could tell you why I write at all.

In the meantime, nothing sufficed, nothing was equal to the question, Why am I here?

out. I was sure not only that everything worth doing had already been done while I was asleep but also that, now that I was awake, there was no longer anything worth doing.

This was a simple exchange, labor for cash. It had nothing to do with gestures of kindness, or if you knew the other guy's name or not, or what mans' ultimate purpose on earth might be. What the market would bear--that was the only relevant question. (from the short story 'A Fair Price')

God's purpose for the Christian's involvement in the church was radically different from my gas-station approach. The church wasn't merely a place to swing by for a fill-up. The journey of the Christian faith was supposed to be made with other believers. The church isn't a gas station, I realized. It's the bus I'm supposed to be traveling on.

We can't change by fancy methods. We can't change by mere willpower. But God's Spirit working in us can help us to "will and to act according to his good purpose" (Philippians 2:13).

Terms don't define our lives; our lives define our terms.

Having a girlfriend was no longer my greatest need. Knowing and obeying Him was . I wanted to please Him in my relationships even if it meant looking radical and foolish to other people - even if it meant kissing dating goodbye.

I certainly saw science as a kind of calling, and one with as much legitimacy as a religious calling.

This approach is not about acquiring more self-discipline or willpower. It's about personally discovering what nourishes you, what feeds you, and ultimately what makes your life extraordinary.

Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them.

Dreams come a size too big so that we may grow into them.

I'd rather make a show 100 people need to see, than a show that 1000 people want to see.

Those of fire move about the earth with inspiration and purpose. They are creative, and can consume and be consumed by their desires [...] My father-to-be was of the water and could not find a hold in the banks of earthiness. Water people can easily get lost.

A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." —Jackie Robinson

There's a beauty, and there's a strength, you know, that grows only in a long walk together in the same direction.

some memories, too, might better be forgotten. didn't Obasan once say, "it is better to forget"? what purpose is served by hauling forth the jar of inedible food? if it is not seen, it does not horrify. what is past recall is past pain.

And if, with some effort, they could recall the affairs that had been consummated, the roads taken, the languages mastered, the queer meals eaten in foreign lands, of what lasting consequence was that? This had been the destination all the while. Having been a good householder, having run a tight ship, having fought the good fight, whatever, it mattered not at all.

Why does the writer write? The writer writes to serve--hopelessly he writes in the hope that he might serve--not himself and not others, but that great cold elemental grace that knows us.

The writer doesn't write for the reader. He doesn't write for himself, either. He writes to serve…something. Somethingness. The somethingness that is sheltered by the wings of nothingness — those exquisite, enveloping, protecting wings.

See, people come into your life for a reason. They might not know it themselves, why. You might not know it. But there's a reason. There has to be

The will is never free - it is always attached to an object, a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car - it can't steer.

God doesn't tell you to do hard things so He can stand back and laugh and watch you struggle. He tells you to do things the things that He knows are gonna work out to your good in the end.