Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny… serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, or evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.

Recommended reading: Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch.

Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to the rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge… and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope.

Recommended reading: Creativity: The Perfect Crime.

In a word, man must create his own essence. It is in throwing himself into the world, suffering there, struggling here, that he gradually defines himself.

Recommended reading: Being and Nothingness.

Life is made of moments, small pieces of silver amidst long stretches of tedium. It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won’t happen. We have to teach ourselves now to live, really live . . . to love the journey, not the destination.

Recommended reading: A Short Guide to a Happy Life.

You cannot be really first-rate at your work if your work is all you are… Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work.

Recommended reading: A Short Guide to a Happy Life.

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

Recommended reading: The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo.

It is not true that people stop pursuing their dreams because they grow old… they grow old because they stop pursuing their dreams.

Recommended reading: Love in the Time of Cholera.

I remember thinking I just want more. This isn’t it. Fame is not the goal. Money is not the goal. To be able to know how to get peace of mind, how to be happy, is something you don’t just stumble across. You’ve got to search for it.

Recommend reading: George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door.

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michaelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel.

Recommended reading: Joys and Sorrows: Reflections by Pablo Casals.

A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.

Recommended reading: Walt Disney: An American Original.