Purpose quotes
3K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside purpose — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"The book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved. You cannot make a spoon that is better than a spoon... The book has been thoroughly tested, and it's very hard to see how it could be improved on for its current purposes."
"Even if you achieve your outer purpose, it will never satisfy you if you haven't found your inner purpose, which is awakening, being present, being in alignment with life. True power comes out of the presence; it is the presence."
"Follow your passion. It will lead you to your purpose."
"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne."
"To assert that the universe has a purpose implies the universe has intent. And intent implies a desired outcome. But who would do the desiring? And what would a desired outcome be? That carbon-based life is inevitable? Or that sentient primates are life's neurological pinnacle? Are answers to these questions even possible without expressing a profound bias of human sentiment? Of course humans were not around to ask these questions for 99.9999% of cosmic history. So if the purpose of the universe was to create humans then the cosmos was embarrassingly inefficient about it."
"My purpose alone must be God's purpose."
"The lion is most handsome when looking for food."
"Beauty depends on purpose. It is in the elements best suited to their purpose or aim that beauty shines forth most strongly."
"The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself."
"Certainly one of the most enthralling things about human life is the recognition that we live in what, for practical purposes, is a universe without bounds."
"There is something better, if possible, that a man can give than his life. That is his living spirit to a service that is not easy, to resist counsels that are hard to resist, to stand against purposes that are difficult to stand against."
"The creature has a purpose, and his eyes are bright with it."
"I don't think any of us really knows why we're here. But I think we're supposed to believe we're here for a purpose."
"The purpose of art is the lifelong construction of a state of wonder."
"As it is for a person, so it is for a company: having a sense of purpose is invigorating and motivating."
"As long as you and I are still breathing, we have a purpose to serve"
"When I was a very young lawyer, I had a senior partner who advised me never to get mad, except on purpose."
"Prayer does not change the purpose of God. But prayer does change the action of God."
"The secret of success is focus of purpose."
"Cast PURPOSE as the lead in your movie and you will help God, your Director, produce a masterwork."
