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 power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can, and undoubtedly will, be recalled."
"There is a time to let things happen, and a time to make things happen." "Life is what happens when you are making other plans."
"All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another."
"The desire to sacrifice an entire lifetime to the noblest of ideals serves no purpose if one works alone."
"Rom. 8:29 tells us what our purpose is - to conform to the image of Jesus Christ, and that singularly helps me keep a focus. That's really what I'm called to do, and I should be gradually growing and changing. He should be increasing, and I should be decreasing."
"That's the purpose of stress. It's a friend. It's an alarm clock, built in to let you know that it's time to do The Work."
"The clash between science and religion has not shown that religion is false and science is true. It has shown that all systems of definition are relative to various purposes, and that none of them actually “grasp” reality."
"This crown of free will is fallen from our head" and "If it be God's purpose that saves then it is not free will."
"Activity without purpose is the drain of your life"
"The individual does actually carry on a double existence: one designed to serve his own purposes and another as a link in a chain, in which he serves against, or at any rate without, any volition of his own."
"Never act without purpose and resolve, or without the means to finish the job."
"So we find that the three possible solutions of the great problem of increasing human energy are answered by the three words: food, peace, work... Their scientific meaning and purpose now clear to me: food to increase the mass, peace to diminish the retarding force, and work to increase the force accelerating human movement."
"Pettiness is the tendency of people without large purposes."
"The Executive is charged officially in the Departments under it with the disbursement of the public money, and is responsible for the faithful application of it to the purposes for which it is raised. The Legislature is the watchful guardian over the public purse. It is its duty to see that the disbursement has been honestly made."
"My main purpose is to pray five times a day. And that's not easy."
"I want to say, without hesitation, the purpose of our life is happiness."
"Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."
"God has given each of us our "marching order." Our purpose here on Earth is to find those orders and carry them out. Those orders acknowledge our special gifts."
"The purpose of poetry is to restore to mankind the possibility to wonder."
"The purpose of a spiritual path or religion is to provide a precise and believable way into what seems unbelievable."
