What better way to meditate on life than to draw inspiration from the thoughts of the most illustrious philosophers. They lived, experienced, reflected and tried to provide answers to the existential questions we may ask ourselves. We’ll take a look at some of the best-known philosophical sayings about life. Just as there is no single answer to an existential question, we’ll look at different points of view, and leave it to you to come up with your own.

Because life is both simple and complicated to explain, and no one has a monopoly on knowledge.

Life as dream and reality

Life is often compared to a dream, an enigma or even a play in literature, inviting us to reflect on the ephemeral and mysterious nature of our existence. What if life were just a dream? Not a dream to run away from, but a dream to interpret and understand. Jules Verne once said: “Life is an eternal enigma to be solved, a dream to be interpreted, an adventure to be attempted.” In one of his play Shakespeare says, and I quote:

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are but actors.”

Perhaps we should stop taking life too seriously. Sooner or later, we’ll be replaced by other actors. What do you think? It’s up to you to find your role and be the best you can be. So, life is one big stage, and we’re all actors on it. But do we all play a role in this life? Or, to put it another way, aren’t some of us just extras in our own lives? Oscar Wilde once said, and I quote:

“Living is the rarest thing in the world. Most people are content to exist”.

Here are two more philosophical phrases on life as dream and reality. Percy Bysshe Shelley:

“Life, like a dome of multicolored glass, stains the white lustre of eternity” .

Lewis Carrol:

“Life is but a dream” .

Love and the value of life

To live is perhaps simply to love and be loved. Not being loved and being hated are also part of the great experience of life. In fact, it could all be summed up as love. We seek notoriety in order to be loved. The efforts we make day and night are intended to start a family later or to protect it, all in the name of love. Love is the light of life, the fundamental element of life. According to Kahlil Gibran, it is a powerful force that transcends words. He says:

“Love gives only of itself and takes only of itself. Love neither possesses nor is possessed, for love is enough for love.”

Victor Hugo, meanwhile, expresses the essence of love in “Les Misérables”:

“Life is love. All the rest is mere detail.”

Indeed, what could be more important than love? Money, power? Love is enough to be happy, provided you have a pure heart. Other things are just accessories. Other philosophical statements about life focus on love. Friedrich Nietzsche points out that

“We never love anyone. Love is only the unique occasion of our emergence to ourselves.”

In other words, we love above all for our personal well-being. Love could well be a condition for personal fulfillment. Aristotle proposes a more analytical approach:

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”

Søren Kierkegaard adds an existential dimension:

“To love is, for the one who loves, to enlarge himself infinitely through devotion and sacrifice”.

Simone de Beauvoir addresses love and freedom:

“One is not born a woman, one becomes one. In the same way, we are not born in love, we become it.”

So, if you’ve lost all hope of loving or being loved, know that nothing is set in stone. It’s the very meaning of life, the birth of new feelings over time. Rumi adds a spiritual dimension:

“Love is the harmonious dance of life with the music of the soul”.

Can a life without love be considered a life? One might think that life without love is a reality for some people. Those who live alone and need no one. But we also realize that these same people love a few things to hold on to life. They have companions like man’s best friend, or they like the calm that surrounds them. It’s always love. Finally, Martin Luther King Jr. offers a social perspective:

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too heavy a burden to bear”

Love isn’t just a question of who or what you love. It’s also about having a heart disposed to love and not hate, because hate is far too heavy a burden to bear.

Philosophical phrases about life: Life as adventure and challenge

Life is also an adventure full of challenges. It’s in our actions and choices that we give direction to our lives. Nothing is fixed, everything is experimentation and discovery. Let’s see life as a never-ending adventure, full of mysteries. Even if we sometimes have the impression of seeing the same patterns repeated, each life is unique, with its own paths. That’s why life is even more beautiful.

To talk about life as an adventure, we turn to well-known authors and philosophers. “Existence precedes essence”. – Jean-Paul Sartre, emphasizing that life has no pre-established meaning, but finds its value in the individual choices that give it shape.

“Life is an adventure to be lived, not a problem to be solved”. – Joseph Campbell, underlining the idea that life derives its value from exploration and discovery rather than from the search for a fixed solution.

“Happiness is life’s progression toward values, through creativity, appreciation, love.” – Ayn Rand, insisting that the intrinsic value of life lies in the pursuit of individual values through enriching experiences.

“The challenge of life is to give meaning to every moment, to discover beauty even in adversity” . – Viktor Frankl, highlighting the idea that life gains value when we find meaning even in difficult times.

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” – Søren Kierkegaard, explaining that life, as an adventure, should not be over-analyzed, but rather lived to the full. All these philosophical statements about life have adventure as their main denominator. The fact of living one’s own life to give it meaning. In reality, revelation only comes through experience. What’s more, you don’t have to rack your brains to make sense of what you’re living. Living is also about letting go, making the most of every moment.

LIFE AS A BEAUTIFUL ADVENTURE
Here are some other phrases that describe life as a great adventure full of challenges:

“Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou

“Even the smallest things can become great adventures if approached with an open mind.” – John C. Maxwell

“Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a dream, make it come true. Life is a duty, fulfill it.” – Mother Teresa

“Every day is an adventure, an opportunity to learn and grow. – Zig Ziglar

“In life, always be curious, explore the unknown, for that’s where the adventure begins.” – Dr. Seuss

“Venture out of your comfort zone, because that’s where the magic happens.” – Neale Donald Walsch

“Life becomes an adventure when you dare to be exactly who you are. – Oprah Winfrey

“Life is a journey to be savored every step of the way, because the adventure lies in the journey, not just the destination.” – Me…

Life, like a perpetual trial, finds its meaning in the constant challenge that drives the soul to forge itself in the fires of adversity, as Seneca taught. Perhaps the essence of life lies in our need to surpass ourselves, to become better than yesterday. Oscar Wilde adds that it is in facing difficulties that we reveal our true nature, for life itself is a challenge to be met with grace and courage. He invites us to reveal the challenges we face, to see difficulties as opportunities to realize ourselves, to know who we really are. Indeed, easy things encourage us to preserve our strengths, to hide who we are and what we are capable of.

Philosophical phrases about life: the quest for truth

Life is a perpetual quest for the truth about ourselves. Namely, to know who we really are and what our life’s mission is. Albert Einstein shed light on the quest for meaning when he declared that “life has no other meaning than the one we give it”. underlining the power of our perception in creating meaning. Similarly, Ralph Waldo Emerson guides us to the discovery of inner truth, declaring that “what we are on the inside is always reflected on the outside”. Therefore, he invites us to explore our deepest essence to find clarity and meaning in our existence.

Defining life through quotations is far too simple. The meaning of life can be both simple and complicated, depending on the direction we take. The best thing to do is to focus on the best version of yourself, in order to take full advantage of what life has to offer. Of course, this is just my opinion.

I hope that these few phrases on life will make many people exhale.