Meaning of Life Quotes from Great Minds

In times of crisis, we tend to question the point of our existence, particularly the meaning of life, or whether indeed life has meaning.

Many great minds have offered their insights on such a profound topic.

Here are some wonderful quotes from some of those great minds.

There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person. Anaïs Nin (French-Cuban novelist)

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another. Thomas Merton (American theologian, writer)

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. Pablo Picasso (Spanish artist)

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. Eleanor Roosevelt (former first lady)

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another. Thomas Merton (American theologian, mystic)

I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance. Pablo Casals (Spanish cellist, composer)

Begin at once to live, and count each day as a separate life. Seneca (Roman Stoic philosopher)

The meaning of life is that it is to be lived. Bruce Lee (Chinese-American actor, martial artist)

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. Robert Byrne (American author)

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light. Stanley Kubrick (American film maker)

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. Albert Camus (French philosopher)

The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself. Albert Camus

If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering. Viktor Frankl (Austrian neurologist/psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor)

For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment. Victor Frankl

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life. Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish novelist)

Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning. Henry Miller (American writer)

The purpose of life is to stay alive. Watch any animal in nature - all it tries to do is stay alive. It doesn't care about beliefs or philosophy. Whenever any animal's behavior puts it out of touch with the realities of its existence, it becomes extinct. Michael Crichton (American writer and filmmaker)

The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German writer)

Plato says that the unexamined life is not worth living. But what if the examined life turns out to be a clunker as well? Kurt Vonnegut (American writer)

Everyone now knows how to find the meaning of life within himself. Kurt Vonnegut

The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself. W. Somerset Maugham (British writer)

I don't know the meaning of life. I don't know why we are here. I think life is full of anxieties and fears and tears. It has a lot of grief in it, and it can be very grim. And I do not want to be the one who tries to tell somebody else what life is all about. To me it's a complete mystery. Charles M. Schulz (creator of cartoon Peanuts)

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to weep, a time to laugh.
A time to mourn, a time to dance. From Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 in the Old Testament and adapted by Pete Seeger and made famous by the band The Byrds as Turn, Turn, Turn

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don’t hurt them. The Dalai Lama (Tibetan-Buddhist spiritual leader)

The ultimate aim of the human mind, in all its efforts, is to become acquainted with truth. Eliza Farnham (American novelist, political activist)