Your life is your own, to develop or to destroy. You can blame others little and yourself almost totally if that life is not a productive, worthy, full, and abundant one.
Spencer W. KimballRead
Man must live, not only exist; he must do, not merely be; he must grow, not just vegetate.
Interpretation
Life should be actively engaged with growth and purpose rather than passive existence.
This quote emphasizes the importance of living life to the fullest by actively participating in one's personal growth and achievements. It suggests that merely existing or going through the motions of life is insufficient; individuals should strive for a more meaningful existence through actions that foster growth and development.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a motivational speech to encourage others to pursue their goals.
Your life is your own, to develop or to destroy. You can blame others little and yourself almost totally if that life is not a productive, worthy, full, and abundant one.
Do not make small goals because they do not have the magic to stir men's souls.
What could you do better for your children and your children's children than to record the story of your life, your triumphs over adversity, your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved? Some of what you write may be humdrum dates and places, but there will also be rich passages that will be quoted by your posterity.
Failure to plan brings barrenness and sterility. Fate brushes man with its wings, but we make our own fate largely.
A dozen times a day we come to a fork in the road and must decide which way we will go. It is important to get our ultimate objectives clearly in mind so that we do not become distracted at each fork in the road by the irrelevant questions: Which is the easier or more pleasant way? Or, Which way are others going?
The day obedience becomes a quest and not an irritation is the day you gain power.
I always tell people I'm grateful for my cancer diagnosis because it was the greatest gift because it completely changed my life. I was able to stop and let my whole life and world just crash over me like a wave. And I stood there and went, 'Wow.' And for the first time, I stopped everything. I had to.
It was so much fun to have the freedom to wander America, with no assignments. For 25 or 30 years I never had an assignment. These were all stories I wanted to do myself.
I'm blessed to be living this dream of writing and singing, but that's not the real dream I had. The real dream was to make enough money to take care of all the pain and suffering that my mother has been through.
Going down (descending), I realized, was like taking hold of the loose strand of yard on a sweater you'd just spent hours knitting and pulling it until the entire sweater unraveled into a pile of string. Hiking the PCT was the maddening effort of knitting that sweater and unraveling it over and over again. As if everything gained was inevitably lost.
It was Howard Hawks who changed my life.
To be able to look life in the face: that's worth living in a garret for, isn't it?
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