# Perception of Life



## Edher

Saludos,

      Quotes regarding opinions about life.

"La vita e bella"

Would you be so kind to share with me some famous quotes by respected philosophers, authors, etc. that tell about their individual perception of life?

Thank you,
Edher


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## cherine

There is that French expression *"Tout est pour le mieux dans les meilleurs des mondes possibles"* which means : All is going for the best, in the best existing world possible (lousy translation, sorry)
That was an optimistic saying, ridiculized by Voltaire, who used it several times in his "Candide" to laugh at the philosophers who "dared" be optimistic while the world was getting worse and worse. But this idea was mainly said by Leibniz and Rousseau (though in a different context, where they speak of God and the "providence").
So here we have Leibniz and Rousseau, on a hand, and on the other hand Voltaire and those who thought like him.
P.S. the expression "tout est pour le mieux..." is not always used ironically, it depends on the context to know what the writer means by it.


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## Mita

Hi! 

Here are some phrases I found (in Spanish ):

"La vida es como una caja de bombones" - Forrest Gump
"La vida es aquello que te va sucediendo mientras te empeñas en hacer otros planes" - John Lennon
"La vida es muy peligrosa. No por las personas que hacen el mal, sino por las que se sientan a ver lo que pasa" - Albert Einstein
"Aprendí que no se puede dar marcha atrás, que la esencia de la vida es ir hacia adelante. La vida, en realidad, es una calle de sentido único" - Agatha Christie
"La vida no es sino una continua sucesión de oportunidades para sobrevivir" - Gabriel García Márquez
"La vida es tan corta y el oficio de vivir tan difícil, que cuando uno empieza a aprenderlo, ya hay que morirse" - Ernesto Sabato

See this and this 

Best regards,


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## foxfirebrand

"Life's a bitch-- then you die."

or to put this pessimism in more florid terms:
_
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
* Life's but a walking shadow*, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

Macbeth, Act V scene 5_

an upbeat take on the illusory quality of life:

_Row row row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily merrily merrily
* Life is but a dream*.
_.


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## Mariaguadalupe

"I shall come this way but once,
so any good that I can do let me do it now
for I may never come this way again."

I don't know where I read it or who wrote it but I remember it from my elementary days.  

Something along these lines would be Mother Theresa of Calcutta's:

"El que no vive para servir, no sirve para vivir."


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## I.C.

Life is just a random walk.


			
				foxfirebrand said:
			
		

> _*Life's but a walking shadow*_


 Reminds me a bit of lines in Sophocles "Ajax".


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## Isotta

"Where is it," thought Raskolnikov, "where is it I've read that someone 
condemned to death says or thinks, an hour before his death, that if he had 
to live on some high rock, on such a narrow ledge that he'd only room to 
stand, and the ocean, everlasting darkness, everlasting solitude, everlasting 
tempest around him, if he had to remain standing on a square yard of space 
all his life, a thousand years, eternity, it were better to live so than 
to die at once! To live, to live, to live! To live--no matter
how--only to live!

-Dostoevsky, _Crime and Punishment_

I took this from here, and I doctored it up a bit at the end to match my vague
memory of the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation. 

Z.


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## Maria Juanita

From the great E. Hubbard, here:

*"Do not take life so seriously. You will never get out of it alive"


"The gratest mistake that you can make in life is continually fearing that you'll make one"


"Life is just one damned thing after another"*


And, not about life but death:

*Die, v: To stop sinning suddenly*


Saludillos...


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## fenixpollo

*We perceive things not as they are, but as we are.*

-- Anais Nin


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## BasedowLives

All the quotes about life that are fresh in my mind come from my spanish literature class.  Seems so bleak

*Nuestras vidas son los ríos
        que van a dar a la mar
        que es el morir;
        allí van los señoríos
        derechos a se acabar
        y consumir;
        allí los ríos caudales,
        allí los otros medianos
        y más chicos,
        allegados son iguales,
        los que viven por sus manos
        y los ricos. -- *Jorge Manrique

*¡Ay, qué larga es esta vida! 
      ¡Qué duros estos destierros, 
      esta cárcel, estos hierros 
      en que el alma está metida! 
      Sólo esperar la salida 
      me causa dolor tan fiero, 
      que muero porque no muero.  - **Santa Teresa*
*
*


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## wisdomapp

Life is a miracle. Life it's like an eternal dream. You can wake up anytime and then live another life.


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## LV4-26

Life is a sexually transmitted lethal disease.

I'll come back if I think of a more optimistic one


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## Maria Juanita

LV4-26 said:
			
		

> Life is a sexually transmitted lethal disease.



Who's that from?


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## LV4-26

Maria Juanita said:
			
		

> Who's that from?


 I'm afraid I misquoted it. Actually I had it in French and translated it. The actual quotation is :
Life is a sexually                 transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one                 hundred percent. 

Some claim it's from Woody Allen but it seems to be from R.D Laing, really.

I've got another one which is in my signature and will remain there until 12-08.


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## manana

"La vida es dura"   - mi hermana​


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## fenixpollo

Or another version of manana's, from a bumper sticker in English...

*Life sucks, and then you die.*


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## suzzzenn

Another poem. The Fly by William Blake. 


http://www.blakearchive.org/cgi-bin/nph-dweb/blake/Illuminated-Book/SONGSIE/songsie.f/@Generic__BookTextView/10967;cv=java#X


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## Edgar Dario

"The purpose of life is a life full of purpose"


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## Gabriel Marín Aballi

These are the steps in understanding life.​4 me,life is a timed program inside of every single living(also including not living) entity. That is,you may feel drives for one or more things to do(or not to do,too).No,no,no! Don't be cheated.It's not about you're the best ,or the worst. You're only what you're commanded to be and to do by Universal Forces. So don't feel so confused and begin to live up with what you have been provided;and with what you have been not so lucky in having. Can we change the galaxies path? 
WE ARE INSIDE


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## Amityville

'...the feeling that I could last forever, outlast the sea, the earth, and all men, the deceitful feeling that lures us on to perils, to love, to vain effort - to death: the triumphant conviction of strength, the heat of life in the handful of dust, that glow in the heart that with every year grows dim..."
- Joseph Conrad


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## LV4-26

I'll try to translate this one. I read it a long time ago and I'm not sure I remember it well.

Life is like an onion. You can peel it endlessly, there's always another skin underneath. In the end, there's nothing left and you cry.

It's from Christiane Rocherfort in _Printemps au Parking_, I think.


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## QUIJOTE

*THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE: *

1) You believe in Santa Claus.
2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3) You are Santa Claus.
4) You look like Santa Claus.​


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## QUIJOTE

*GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED: *

1) Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt. 
3) Families are like fudge . . . mostly sweet, with a few nuts. 
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground. 
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside. 
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the joy. ​


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## QUIJOTE

And the best for last..enjoy:

*GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED*
1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato. 
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food. 
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair. 
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time. 
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts. 
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandma's lap. ​


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