Welcome to my list of quotes about a life well lived.
This is the ultimate goal I’m working towards with my life coaching clients.
That’s why I was excited to create this list for you.
So, let’s dive in.
What Does A Life Well Lived Mean?
This phrase is not so much about living a long life, as it is living a good life.
A Life Well Lived Meaning
Everyone has their own definition of a life well lived. In a way, that’s what makes life so beautiful and interesting. Do you want to make a positive impact on society and leave an amazing legacy? Do you want to help other people live better lives? Do you simply want to have fun and create as many amazing memories as possible?
It really is up to you – and there’s something incredibly freeing about that.
Who Wrote A Life Well Lived?
A Life Well Lived is a Christian book written by Charles R. Swindoll.
What Are Possible Ways Of Living A Life Well Lived?
In my role as a life coach, I help people decide how to live a life that will fulfil them.
It’s not for me to tell clients how to live their lives though. It’s up to you to create a life that fulfils you – and to find the answer for what type of life that is.
If you’re feeling lost and unsure about how to live a great life, perhaps these famous quotes will give you a better idea of how you want to live.
What Makes For A Life Well Lived Quotes
- “To do what you wanna do, to leave a mark – in a way that you think is important and lasting – that’s a life well-lived.” – Laurene Powell Jobs
- “As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.” – Leonardo da Vinci
- “The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”- William James
- “Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.” – Natalie Babbitt
- “A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.” – Lao Tzu
- “No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.” – Terry Pratchett
- “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou
- “Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved.” – D.H. Lawrence
- “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” – Mark Twain
- “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good..” — John Steinbeck“
- “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.” – Alan Watts
- “One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.” – Dalai Lama
- “The man is a success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
- “From the first day of our life until our last breath, the very foundation of our existence is affection and human warmth.” – Dalai Lama
- “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West
- “I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” – Diane Ackerman
- “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” – Steve Jobs
- “The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.” – Thornton Wilder
- “Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.” – Seneca
- “You’re not supposed to die with your potential. A life well lived squeezes all the potential placed within and does something with it” – Erwin McManus
- “It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone” – John Steinbeck
- “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Breathe. Pay attention. Be kind. Stop grabbing.” – Anne Lamott
- “Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “We must embrace pain and use it as fuel for our journey.” – Kenji Miyazawa
- “Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” – Jack Canfield
- “Make the best use of what is in your power and take the rest as it happens.” — Epictetus
- “We must each lead a way of life with self-awareness and compassion, to do as much as we can. Then, whatever happens we will have no regrets.” – Dalai Lama
- “Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Let your children be as so many flowers, borrowed from God. If the flowers die or wither, thank God for a summer loan of them.” — Samuel Rutherford
- “Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward.” — The Bhagavad Gita
- “Children reinvent the world for you.” — Susan Sarandon
- “What if today you gave yourself permission to be outrageously kind? What if you extended as much good will and kindness as you can possibly muster to every person you meet? And what if you did it with no thought of reward? I’m sure of one thing: it will be a day you will never regret.” — Steve Goodier
- “We might not be the ones to change the world. We might not belong to the few that “put a ding in the universe.” We might not be something the whole world would celebrate. But…In the little corners that we live; in the lives that we’ve played a part in, we should be nothing but unforgettable.” – Nesta Jojoe Erskine
- “To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “We have a good life when we manage to live with both satisfied and unsatisfied needs, when we are not obsessed by what is beyond our reach.” – Kjell Magne Bondevik
- “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity .” – Simone Weil
- “Life is very interesting… in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.” – Drew Barrymore
- “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Life is a question and how we live it is our answer.” – Gary Keller
- “Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.” – Rose Kennedy
- “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” – Zig Ziglar
- “The good life is one that’s artistically made.” – William Shatner
- “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine
- “Life is made up of a few moments all strung together like pearls. Each moment is a pearl, and it is up to us to pick the ones with the highest luster. If we do not have time to do great things, take a few gentle moments and do small things in a great way.” – Joyce Hilfer
- “Make the best use of what is in your power and take the rest as it happens.” — Epictetus
- “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” – Bertrand Russell
- “My dream is to live a good life and be loving, be close to God and be a good human being and bring peace to people.” – Ziggy Marley
- “The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.” – Carl Rogers
- “The secret of a good life is to have the right loyalties and hold them in the right scale of values.” – Norman Thomas
- “Not life but good life is to be chiefly valued – “ Socrates
- “A good life depends on the strength of our relationships with family, friends,neighbours, colleagues and strangers” – David Lammy
- “Life comes from physical survival; but the good life comes from what we care about.” – Rollo May
- “There are three ingredients in the good life; learning, earning and yearning.” – Christopher Morley
- “The good life is built with good relationships.” – Robert J Waldinger
- “Life is good when we think it’s good. Life is bad when we don’t think.” – Douglas Horton
- “I tell everybody that you haven’t lived a good life if you haven’t made a mistake.” Gino D’Acampo
- “The only thing that I am ambitious about is to live a good life. Full stop.” – Vincent Nichols
- “Life imposes things on you that you can’t control, but you still have the choice of how you’re going to live through this.” – Celine Dion
- “Love, Learn, Laugh…the trio makes Life worth Living.” – Martin Uzochukwu Ugwu
A Life Well Lived Poem
A life well lived is a precious gift
Of hope and strength and grace,
From someone who has made our world
A brighter, better place
It’s filled with moments, sweet and sad
With smiles and sometimes tears,
With friendships formed and good times shared
And laughter through the years.
A life well lived is a legacy
Of joy and pride and pleasure,
A living, lasting memory
Our grateful hearts will treasure
– Author Unknown
Any Questions?
Thanks for reading my list of quotes from history. It was fun to create this list and remember these inspirational words.
These quotes can be nice to add into a sympathy card after someone’s death, or to use in a speech at a funeral.Perhaps you can choose one that revokes memories of how this person chose to live. In doing so, you can help to bring peace to their other loved ones.
Anyway, if you have a question on this topic, don’t forget to write it in the comments.
It’s always great to speak with readers of my blog, so I’ll do my best to reply to as many comments as possible.
