"For the secret of man's being is..." - Quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky
For the secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for. Without a stable conception of the object of life, man would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than remain on earth, though he had bread in abundance.
More by Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Man is a creature that can get accustomed to anything, and I think that is the best definition of him.”
“They have succeeded in accumulating a greater mass of objects, but the joy in the world has grown less.”
“Sarcasm: the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.”
More on Purpose
“Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life and that to destroy, harm, or to hinder life is evil. Affirmation of the world - that is affirmation of the will to live, which appears in phenomenal forms all around me - is only possible for me in that I give myself out for other life.”
“Why live? Life was its own answer. Life was the propagation of more life and the living of as good a life as possible.”
“Life's no brief candle-it's a splendid torch!”
More on Meaning
“I am ashamed of my emptiness," said the Word to the Work. "I know how poor I am when I see you," said the Work to the Word.”
“How could you communicate with the future? It was impossible. Either the future would resemble the present in which case it would not listen to him, or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless.”
“I discovered the miracle that all things that sound are music, including the dishes and silverware in the dishwasher, as long as they fulfill the illusion of showing us where life is heading.”