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Learn from the past. Live in the present. Prepare for the future.

Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing about.

One of the great discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do. Most of the bars we beat against are in ourselves -- we put them there, and we can take them down.

Life is not about being dealt a good hand, it's about learning to play a bad hand well.
- Radney Foster (quoting a friend of his - name forgotten)

All inquiry, whatever its subject, has as its final object the matter of how to go about living.

Our most basic choice, the one that ground all the others, is this: Do we attend closely to the business of our choices, or do we flee from them, in arrogance, or fear, or boredom -- or some combination of all three? That's the only ultimate purpose or meaning that we can make sense of.

Most of us live our lives either in quiet desparation or with inspired purpose.

Man was not made for business; business was made for man.

It doesn't TAKE all kinds, we just HAVE all kinds.

I'm hoping we can create a balanced life in which we'll be aggressive with our imaginations but conservative with our emotions. There has to be a way to create a better life but not be overtaken by greed.

To be what we are -- to become what you are capable of becoming...is the only end in life.

Enjoy all you have while pursuing all you want.

People forget what you said.
People forget what you did.
But people never forget how you made them feel.

With wealth you can live in comfort.
With drive you can make a comfortable living.
With peace of mind, you can be comfortable in living

The return from your work must be the satisfaction which that work brings you and the world's need of work. With it, life is heaven, or as near heaven as you can get. Without this - with work which you despise, which bores you, and which the world does not need - this life is hell.

Anything worth doing at all is worth doing poorly. It may be worth more if it's done well, but it's worth something if it's done poorly.

Show me a hero and I'll tell you a tragedy.

All inquiry, whatever its subject, has as its final object the matter of how to go about living.

We think, and with those thoughts, we create. We create the world we live in ... We harvest in life, only and exactly, what we sow in our minds.

What gives something meaning, besides the meaning we give it?

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. Life is no 'brief candle' for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a short moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.

You spend the first third of your life learning, the second third earning, and the final third giving back. And if there's anything left over, well, I guess we didn't plan well.

Note: Older EBF articles are not currently online. I'm not sure if this is temporary or permanent. If you click you will be taken to the Archive.org site to find an archived copy.

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Life can only be understood by looking back, but can only be lived by looking forward.

For a complete set of career resources check out our Career Center

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The [work-life balance] problem...is that while success at work is largely rooted in achievement, success outside of work mostly isn't. The things most of us say we value in our nonwork lives -- simply caring and being there for others -- aren't a function of accomplishing anything per se. Contentedness in that realm is less a matter of doing more than of cutting back.

Obvious enough, isn't it? Life is about setting priorities and making trade-offs; that's what grown-ups do. But in our all-or-nothing culture, resorting to those sorts of decisions is too often seen as a kind of failure. Seeking balance, we strive for achievement everywhere, all the time -- and we feel guilty and stressed out when, inevitably, we fall short.

Â…personal comfort is not the only thing worth seekingÂ…comfort only takes us to a point that's known. Since when did sheets with the right thread-count, a coffee maker, and an electric toothbrush become the only things worth having or working toward? Too often, comfort gets in the way of inner reckonings.

If you lead a largely unexamined life, you will eventually hit a wall. Some barriers can be invisible until you smack into them. The key, then, is to investigate the wall inside yourself, so you can go beyond it. The only way to do that is to ask yourself painful questions...

We are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind or whether to act, and in acting, to live.

Life is a series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have been, but what we yearn to be.

The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.

If we trust only when trust is warranted, love only when love is returned, learn only when learning is valuable, we abandon an essential feature of our own humanness-our willingness to act from our conception of who we are, regardless of the consequences.