In my personal search for meaning, I’ve found that quotes help expound my beliefs. Here is a collection of my favorites, which cover themes of existentialism, adventure, and resilience:
If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.
Geena Davis
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
Take your pleasure seriously.
Charles Eames
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
Helen Keller
The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore… Unlike the mediocre, intrepid spirits seek victory over those things that seem impossible… It is with an iron will that they embark on the most daring of all endeavors… to meet the shadowy future without fear and conquer the unknown.
Ferdinand Magellan
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
Plato
You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.
Joseph Campbell
However mean your life is, meet it and live it.
Henry David Thoreau
Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.
Victor Hugo
This bridge will only take you halfway there, to those mysterious lands you long to see. Through gypsy camps and swirling Arab fair, and moonlit woods where unicorns run free. So come and walk awhile with me and share the twisting trails and wondrous worlds I’ve known. But this bridge will only take you halfway there. The last few steps you have to take alone.
Shel Silverstein
The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.
Napoleon Bonaparte
You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.
Henry David Thoreau
There is freedom waiting for you,
on the breezes of the sky,
and you ask, “What if I fall?”
Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?
Erin Hanson (e.h) The Poetic Underground
Though my soul may set in darkness,
The Old Astronomer to his Pupil by Sarah Williams
It will rise in perfect light.
I have loved the stars too fondly,
To be fearful of the night.
One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
Andre Gide
Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.
Shel Silverstein
For what it’s worth… it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.
Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), often misattributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald
What is to give light must endure burning.
Viktor E. Frankl
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.
Dr. Seuss
We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death.
David Sarnoff
Accept that all of us can be hurt, that all of us can–and surely will at times–fail. I think we should follow a simple rule: if we can take the worst, take the risk.
Joyce Brothers
We are stars wrapped in skin – the light you are looking for has always been within.
Rumi
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
Kate Scott 