Quotes About Significance

A person is a diminutive, ephemeral thing, standing smaller in comparison with the universe than a single atom stands in comparison with the Earth. Can any one individual existence really matter?

We are not the reason for the existence of the universe, but our ability for self-awareness and reflection makes us special within it.

The meaning we find in life is not transacendent, but it's no less meaningful for that.

If we are what we have, and we have nothinh, thenwho are we? Are we nothing?

Purpose is the primary fuel of ambition. Purpose creates a destination. We can only become fully engaged in life when we feel that we are doing something that really matters. Purpose is what inspires us, lights us up, and floats our boats. Washington Irving—the famous author, historian and essayist—said, "Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above it.

What does it all mean?" many wonder while chasing purposes they're told are worthwhile, but which feel empty. "What is the purpose of this life?" humans have wondered for millennia, contemplating how insignificant we are in the great cosmic symphony.

His first word, his first day at junior high. Nonsense things, the deepest, most important poetry of my life.

Welchen Sinn hatte es überhaupt, durch das Leben zu hetzen, wenn am Ende niemand auf einen wartete?

That's what time was like, along with the things occupying it, that it made the feelings connected to any memory seem worthless.

Esos días con vos se recortan del resto de mi vida con la tonalidad de lo ideal: si alguna vez tuviera la desgracia de estar a punto de ahogarme, en la película completa desde mi nacimiento esos días (qué pocos fueron, ¿no?) se destacarían en la oscuridad con tal suficiencia que yo, entre las olas, sonreiría, en vez de luchar».

The thing is, you never know what tiny event might become a potent memory, lingering in your mind, taking on more and more significance with each passing year.

It is a strange thing how quickly the body dies. How fragile a force our presence is. In an instant the soul is gone—leaving an empty, insignificant vessel in its stead.

But what had lasting significance were not the miracles themselves but Jesus' love. Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, and a few years later, Lazarus died again. Jesus healed the sick, but eventually caught some other disease. He fed the ten thousands, and the next day they were hungry again. But we remember his love. It wasn't that Jesus healed a leper but that he touched a leper, because no one touched lepers.

Beyond miracles, what has lasting significance is love. It wasn't that Jesus healed a leper, but that he touched a leper, because no one touched lepers.

We so seldom understand each other. But if understanding is neither here nor there, and the universe is infinite, then understand that no matter where we go we will always be smack dab in the middle of nowhere. All we can do is share some piece of ourselves, and hope that it's remembered. Hope that we meant something to someone

But sometimes, it'd be nice just to hold something real in your hands that felt like a measure of your worth.

Why was the judgment of the disapproving so valuable?

Am I supposed to do something important ? It doesn't seem enough to merely take up space on this planet in this country in this state in this town in this family.

You almost threw it back!' she repeated, and her voice filled with mock horror. 'You foolish boy! Are you always so careless with items of value?' 'No,' he said, abruptly sober. 'I know what matters. And I never throw those things away. I hold on to them as long as I can.

The most momentous events in life—baptisms, weddings, and funerals—don't seem to take much time, but the effects of them bind up the whole of your existence.

India shaped my mind, anchored my identity, influenced my beliefs, and made me who I am. ... India matters to me and I would like to matter to India.

There is an implicit recognition here that important things in life are not always immediately visible, and can't always be named, or even fully understood. Others still are entirely imaginary -- like a red tree growing suddenly in a room -- although this does not make them any less real.

We don't need to have a birthmark prophetically positioned in a sign on our third rib to tell us what the Bible has already told us: We are intricately, beautifully, and wonderfully made.

It has long been known to me that certain objects want you as much as you want them. These are the ones that become important, the objects that you hold dear. The others fade from your life entirely. You wanted them, but they did not want you in return.