Quotations and Literature Forum

This might be difficult question, but I would really like to know your answers.
So, what is the purpose of your life? What makes you alive? (you know how I mean it )

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"If you want to find the Truth, you've got to work really hard just to realize that you are not right"

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.
~Bertrand Russell

Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others...
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
~Walt Whitman

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common--this is my symphony.
~William Henry Channing

Our main business in life is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
~Thomas Carlyle

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

Strange is our situation here on earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.~Albert Einstein, My Credo (1932).

Life must go on; I forget just why~Edna St. Vincent Millay, Lament.

Sit, walk or run, but don't wobble~Zen saying

I wish someone could tell me the purpose of MY life... LOL... I guess it would be... umm... great... now I won't be able to sleep, again... I'll be up all night trying to figure this one out...
Yang

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We hold these truths to be selve evident, but evidence is not ownership. Those words are not a decree that we have life, liberty, happiness. Only an iron clad statement that it is ours if we are willing to do all that is necessary to take it.

You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others - something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.
~Albert Schweitzer

1. My Greatest Purpose:
To help as many people as possible in this life.

2.
To give to this world what I have to give and never expect anything in return.

3.
To learn lifes lessons the hard way. The harder the road is to travel the more lessons you learn.

It seems that my last purpose is what led to the knowledge of my true purposes. I learned my purpose the hard way and I will never regret it.

Raven

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"You must learn there is a time to speak all of the truth, and a time to govern your tongue."
~Verin (The Wheel of Time)

To give more than take.

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"Follow me," the wise man said, but he walked behind...

To protect...

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We hold these truths to be selve evident, but evidence is not ownership. Those words are not a decree that we have life, liberty, happiness. Only an iron clad statement that it is ours if we are willing to do all that is necessary to take it.

Everything that has been said here so far is awesome, and I agree completely. To give without thought of repayment, to love well, all those are excellent goals. But isn't a purpose more of a reason? What is special that you have to give to the world, that justifies your existence. Whether man made or given to you by divine edict, what is it.

I sure as heck don't know.

I do like to jam though.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."
-Aristotle

Boojum,
In reality the things that people have said here are reasons depending on how you percieve it. We all percieve our lifes purposes as being something different. To others it might not seem like a purpose, but to us it is. The things we are best at in this life seem to create our purpose. If they are good at collecting knowlegde, perhaps they are a record keeper, a writer, a philospher...ext. If they are good at protecting people, perhaps they work in the armed forces, martial arts, or a government program such as the CIA or FBI. If they are good at giving without expecting anything in return, they could work in charity, humane society, social services, counseling...ext.

The reason why I say that my purpose is to help, is because that is all I have ever known to do. It is what I am good at. Many people have told me through out my life that they are in my debt, and I laugh. I laugh because I know that I am in their debt more than they will ever know. It might seem odd or even dependant that I rely on these people, but in my mind, if they weren't here, I would have no reason to be here except to live.

If these are not reasons for a purpose, then my purpose would be:

1. To give advice

2. To protect

I am just stating my own opinion. If you disagree with this, let me know.

Raven

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"You must learn there is a time to speak all of the truth, and a time to govern your tongue."
~Verin (The Wheel of Time)

I have to agree with you, Raven, but if Boo asked for a purpose, a reason to be living, I'll give mine.
I believe that someday I will walk in the footsteps of my martial arts teacher who has, on multiple counts, saved people's lives. He recently came across a man trying to rape a woman in the park near my martial arts school. He stopped that and probably saved her life. Also recently, while out running, he saw a man break into the house of an elderly neighbor of his. He followed the man into the house, secured the man, and called the police. He later found that the whole incident happened while the elderly gentleman and his wife were in the basement, and may have been killed had the thief (who was amred) found them. I hope to lead the same life as my instructor and save people. That is why I believe I was put on this Earth. My entire life has worked out so that I could learn to protect people. That is why I was put on this earth...
Yang

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We hold these truths to be selve evident, but evidence is not ownership. Those words are not a decree that we have life, liberty, happiness. Only an iron clad statement that it is ours if we are willing to do all that is necessary to take it.

I honestly don't have a clue about any purpose. I so far have just drifted through life and I will see what happens.

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"The Truth may be out there but the lies are in your head"
"I tend to think if God wanted us to believe in him he'd exist."

I posted this in another forum, but it fits here too.

Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him; then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. . . . Everyone has it within his power to say, this I am today, that I shall be tomorrow.~Louis L'Amour (1908-1988), The Walking Drum [1984].

Thanks for your replies folks!
I was thinking about my purpose too and I came to this: My purpose is to look for the Truth, to show what I have already found to other people, and...this will make me really happy, because "The Truth may be out there but the lies are in your head" (thx sigsfried) and I really want to turn some of these lies into truth.

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"If you want to find the Truth, you've got to work really hard just to realize that you are not right"

hey i sont realy have a purpose... ust to haev fun and be goregous... jjks.
have fun guys..

Phaedrus, no offence, but I noticed that you never express your own opinion, you always just put down all those quotes. What about trying to express your own thoughts, hmm? I know you are wise enough to succeed! Again - no offence intended. Just my two cents.
P.S.: I love all quotes you wrote down, keep'em coming.

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"Follow me," the wise man said, but he walked behind...