65 Quotes About Finding Purpose

In today's fast-paced world, many of us find ourselves searching for a deeper meaning, a sense of direction that goes beyond mere day-to-day existence. The journey to finding one's purpose can be both challenging and profoundly rewarding, offering a compass to navigate life's complexities. What better way to embark on this quest than by drawing inspiration from the wisdom of those who have pondered the essence of purpose before us? In this carefully curated collection, we present 65 quotes that capture the spirit of discovering and embracing one's unique path. Whether you're at the beginning of your journey or seeking renewed clarity, these words resonate with timeless insights and encouragement to help guide you toward a fulfilling and intentional life.

1. “all of us have a place in history. mine is clouds.” - Richard Brautigan

2. “Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it” - Buddha

3. “A Man Said to the UniverseA man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!”“However,” replied the universe, “The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.” - Stephen Crane

4. “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

5. “When faith replaces doubt, when selfless service eliminates selfish striving, the power of God brings to pass His purposes.” - Thomas S. Monson

6. “Great minds have purpose, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.” - Washington Irving

7. “This is why I'm here on this planet, at this time, Francesca. Not to travel or make pictures, but to love you. I know that now. I have been falling from the rim of a great, high place, somewhere back in time, for many more years than I have lived in this life. And through all of those years, I have been falling toward you.” - Robert James Waller

8. “Because God is never cruel, there is a reason for all things. We must know the pain of loss; because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others, and we would become monsters of self-regard, creatures of unalloyed self-interest. The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to soften uncaring hearts, to make a better person of a good one.” - Dean Koontz

9. “A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.” - Jorge Luis Borges

10. “In Maycomb, if one went for a walk with no definite purpose in mind, it was correct to believe one's mind incapable of definite purpose.” - Harper Lee

11. “When you lost sight of your path, listen for the destination in your heart (Allen Walker, D-gray Man)” - Katsura Hoshino

12. “The New Dimension is peaceful, and all work here just as they do on Earth. It’s a place where learning, knowledge and wisdom are essential to that work.It is not corrupt like the Earth Plane, and there they are free from all of the corruption that exists on Earth today.We created this New Dimension for growing and learning, as we did Earth.Minds here are advanced, as the knowledge that was acquired on Earth is now attuned to the minds of New Dimension souls.It is a slow process for all souls’ minds to learn and absorb knowledge and wisdom.Love is the answer for all kinds of souls to advance in the Universe. Through love, knowledge and wisdom are well earned.Critical thinking, the Earth Plane has gotten off track, forgetting or ignoring this most important key to progress.We all here in the Universe is working so hard with Earth souls to remind them that their purpose on Earth is to advance.First, they must love themselves if they are going to love all of those around them, if they are going to love other souls, if they are going to help less fortunate souls with love and kindness. All of this is part of Earth lessons they must learn.Once this is understood, we will attain peace of soul and mind…Progress is all that matters in the Universe!” - Solon

13. “In the discoveries of science the harmony of the spheres is also now the harmony of life. And as the eerie illumination of science penetrates evermore deeply into the order of nature, the cosmos appears increasingly to be a vast system finely tuned to generate life and organisms of biology very similar, perhaps identical, to ourselves. All the evidence available in the biological sciences supports the core proposition of traditional natural theology - that the cosmos is a specially designed whole with life and mankind as a fundamental goal and purpose, a whole in which all facets of reality, from the size of galaxies to the thermal capacity of water, have their meaning and explanation in this central fact.Four centuries after the scientific revolution apparently destroyed irretrievably man's special place in the universe, banished Aristotle, and rendered teleological speculation obsolete, the relentless stream of discovery has turned dramatically in favor of teleology and design, and the doctrine of the microcosm is reborn. As I hope the evidence presented in this book has shown, science, which has been for centuries the great ally of atheism and skepticism, has become at last, in the final days of the second millennium, what Newton and many of its early advocates had so fervently wished - the "defender of the anthropocentric faith.” - Michael Denton

14. “I have more wisdom than any books ever written in history of times, any scripture ever written which you rhyme but this is not my purpose.” - Santosh Kalwar

15. “Once you start recognizing the truth of your story, finish the story. It happened but you're still here, you're still capable, powerful, you're not your circumstance. It happened and you made it through. You're still fully equipped with every single tool you need to fulfill your purpose.” - Steve Maraboli

16. “Life is difficult.” - M. Scott Peck

17. “...But we also believe that part of our mission in life is to find our bliss and follow it. Life is a precious and delicate gift. How much of that gift do we squander out of fear?” - Dianne Sylvan

18. “Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it!” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

19. “The circumstances of the world are so variable that an irrevocable purpose or opinion is almost synonymous with a foolish one.” - William Seward

20. “The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth. And that, I take it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history... It seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science.” - Rachel Carson

21. “The purpose of life is the expansion of happiness.” - Deepak Chopra

22. “It makes me happier, more secure, to think that I do not have to plan and manage everything for myself, that I am only a sword made sharp to smite the unclean forces, an enchanted sword to cleave and disperse them.Grant, O Lord, that I may not break as I strike! Let me not fall from Thy hand!” - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

23. “Creation is bringing potential into being, bringing inspiration into action. Inspiration and action are nothing when they are apart. Inspiration feels like a great a wondrous thing, but if it is not manifested, it is as if it never existed. Likewise, action without inspiration has no purpose. It is only when they are together as one that they are truly something.” - Kristi Bowman

24. “It is more substantial to represent a purpose, rather than just a title.” - T.F. Hodge

25. “Of all the questions I have asked my readers this is the most important: What would you do if you weren't afraid? When you finally give wings to that answer then you have found your life's purpose.” - Shannon L. Alder

26. “You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.” - Abraham Lincoln

27. “The artist lives to have stories to tell and to learn to tell them well.” - Criss Jami

28. “The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.” - John Milton

29. “The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.” - Carl Sagan

30. “Girls like guys to be a challenge. It gives them some mold to fit in how they act. Like a mom. What would a mom do if she couldn't fuss over you and make you clean your room? And what would you do without her fussing and making you do it? Everyone needs a mom. And a mom knowns this. And it gives her a sense of purpose. You get it?” - Stephen Chbosky

31. “Everything in life had a purpose, and unless it achieved that purpose, it was just taking up space on the planet and wasting everybody's time.” - Jeannette Walls

32. “When I take a break, even just a brief one, the creative energy flows in. Only then do I have anything of value to share with others. Once I recognized this, I stopped feeling guilty about taking time for myself.” - Holly Mosier

33. “One is often so busy doing life that it is easy to avoid evaluating whether you are putting your energy in the direction you value most.” - Deborah Day

34. “If you are unclear about what attitudes you adhere to, you will have a difficult time evaluation which ones are not serving your highest good.” - Deborah Day

35. “The truth is that you are innately good, wise, and powerful. You were created in and for good.” - Deborah Day

36. “Creation groans, awaiting the revelation of the sons of God. It remembers, I think, in dreams, the wonders of the sinless, perfect world. You can hear it in the wild tinkle of the wind through the beech leaves, the splashing of water through cold, crystal streams, the beauty of a hind poised against the sky on a hilltop, and al through heartbreaking, beautiful things that surround us each day. They are memories, dear Indi, memories of long-lost days when God walked with man and all was well [...]But all these beauties we see are but dreams in the night, whispers of a hope to come beyond the end of this Age, that wonderful Other Thing. [...] God will not settle for imperfection, but He works His own ways in His own time. That is what we are living for, that is what stirs our sweet dreams each night, both us and the world, and that is what keeps us going through the dark: knowing that a morning is coming. And while we love the beauty of our world, we must remember that it is only a type, a shadow thing, very faintly resembling what is to come.” - Jennifer Freitag

37. “I have no expectation that any man will read history aright who thinks that what was done in a remote age, by men whose names have resounded far, has any deeper sense than what he is doing today.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

38. “People enter different paths seeking for happiness and fulfillment. We must respect other people's individuality. Just because they're not on your path doesn't mean they are on the wrong track.” - Ogwo David Emenike

39. “Your Purpose Should Dictate How You Spend Your Time” - Brenda Johnson Padgitt

40. “What good is having the power of a god if you don’t know its purpose” - Priya Ardis

41. “Has your soul a special mission? Yes. Your mission is in the inmost recesses of your heart, and you have to find and fulfil it there. There can be no external way for you to fulfil your mission. The deer grows musk in his own body. He smells it and becomes enchanted, and tries to locate its source. He runs and runs, but he cannot find the source. In his endless search, he loses all his energy and finally he dies. But the source he was so desperately searching for was within himself. How could he find it elsewhere?Such is the case with you. Your special mission- which is the fulfilment of your divinity- is not outside you, but within you. Search within. Meditate within. You will discover your mission.” - Sri Chinmoy

42. “The secret to your purpose is to find what you feel is important, and not pursue what others would think is important. When you think highly of yourself, me thinking highly of you will never be enough!” - Shannon L. Alder

43. “Recognize that there's something AMAZING about you. Everyone has something that comes very natural for them - natural gifts and talents. That gift/talent is that thing or things that comes easy for you, but hard for most. The greatness that is stored within was given to you, because it was meant to be used. Whether you've been running from it or haven't discovered it yet, it's there. It's your job to discover and master it. It wasn't given to you in vain, it's part of your purpose.” - Yvonne Pierre

44. “Giving up everything must mean giving over everything to kingdom purposes, surrendering everything to further the one central cause, loosening our grip on everything. For some of us, this may mean ridding ourselves of most of our possessions. But for all of us it should mean dedicating everything we retain to further the kingdom. (For true disciples, however, it cannot mean hoarding or using kingdom assets self-indulgently.)” - Randy Alcorn

45. “If you are not working towards something, your life will end with nothing.” - Habeeb Akande

46. “Knowing your purpose motivates your life.” - Rick Warren

47. “It may be argued again that dissatisfaction with our life's endeavor springs in some degree from dulness. We require higher tasks, because we do not recognise the height of those we have.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

48. “Cut the attacker down, to cut them down to their very soul” - Terry Goodkind

49. “Ladies, get confident bout yourselves, build up your self-worth and esteem, love yourself and be proud of your achievements and your man will adore you for life.” - Agu, Jaachynma N.E.

50. “An intelligent woman is a goldmine! She has the ability to learn, reason and understand things better and faster than her contemporaries. She is competent, alert and can reason out stuffs easily.” - Agu, Jaachynma N.E.

51. “A woman can tolerate delays knowing they are not denials; she is diligent, and composed. She is not easily irritated like love; she endures all things, beans all things and can be stretched to any limit.” - Agu, Jaachynma N.E.

52. “A responsible woman doesn’t see opportunities and needs and look the other way pretending not to see them rather she gets to work to ensure things are done properly and her man succeeds in his endeavours.” - Agu, Jaachynma N.E.

53. “I've come to the conclusion that a man without a cause is nothing. He has nothing to look forward to, he has nothing to work toward; he is as a man lost, wandering in the darkest part of his heart to find a deeper, better purpose in his life.” - Hazel B. West

54. “What did she do that made her happy? The question implied action, a conscious purpose. She did many things in a day, and many things made her happy, but that, Claire could tell, wasn’t the issue. Nor the only one, Claire realized. Because in order to consciously do something that made you happy, you’d have to know who you were. Trying to figure that out these days was like fishing on a lake on a moonless night—you had no idea what you would get.” - Erica Bauermeister

55. “Having a sense of purpose is having a sense of self. A course to plot is a destination to hope for.” - Bryant McGill

56. “...don't be afraid of going by a way you've never gone - that's the way we're all going...” - John Geddes A Familiar Rain

57. “My feeling is that there is nothing in life but refraining from hurting others, and comforting those who are sad.” - Olive Schreiner

58. “Our days are numbered in the book of days, Most High," Gorgon murmurs as the garden comes once more into view. "That is what gives them sweetness and purpose.” - Libba Bray

59. “As long as he was breathing, God's greatest task for him was not yet finished. His highest purpose in life was still unfulfilled. ... God still had plans for him.” - Karen Kingsbury

60. “To die trying would be better than to die without purpose.” - Lauren DeStefano

61. “When we’re not true to our thoughts and not true to the feelings we have deep inside, we find ourselves unhappy. Be courageous enough to align your life with your feelings, desires, and sense of purpose.” - Steve Maraboli

62. “Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow.” - Helen Keller

63. “There is a distinct feeling of contentment that engulfs your entire being after a day well lived, a battle well fought, and a purpose tirelessly pursued.” - Steve Maraboli

64. “To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be.” - Steven Pressfield

65. “How was I able to live alone before, my little everything? Without you I lack self-confidence, passion for work, and enjoyment of life--in short, without you, my life is no life.[Written to his wife, Mileva]” - Albert Einstein