What Is A Single Sentence That Sums Up Your Life?
"No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness." Quote by Alan Alda
If I had to pick single sentences to sum up my personal philosophies of life, this one by Alan Alda would be at the top of my list. In my life I feel like kindness and expressing goodwill towards others is the most important thing I can do in life. I will never change the world. I remember as a youngster thinking I'd grow up and do great things. That I'd leave a lasting impact that would exist long after I was dead. As an adult I've accepted I'm just a tiny little person on a planet with billions of people and a world with forces far beyond my reach.
If I can succeed in anything, it is in changing single moments in my interactions with others to make them smile or happy. To express even the tiniest bit of kindness to a person can make that one moment happy and worthwhile. This quote from Alan Alda is my favorite all time quote and a wonderful philosophy to living life.
Maybe a simple bunny in my imagination can bring a moment of happiness to someone?
Okay...So Where Am I Going With This Post?
I've been writing my very first paper for my philosophy class so you're getting a lesson in what I've been reading about. Don't worry...education can be fun!
Our textbook started off discussing what is philosophy? According to the readings I'm doing the answer depends on the use of the word and the individual person. Some may see philosophy as a field that answers all the questions we may ponder about in life. Some may define philosophy as common ideas people share about a topic. Another view is that philosophy is a search for common ideas and themes that people use to explain the world and guide us through our lives and we can amass them into a body of knowledge.
The texts examples of personal philosophies were quite dull. "Live and let live" and "do unto others before they do unto you" were the examples given. They are good rules to live by but not all that original. This lead me to think about myself and what my own personal rules I live my life by. I could describe them to you but I tend to be long winded. Then I asked myself, if I could narrow my personal philosophies into single sentences, what would they be?
What Are Single Sentences That Sum Up Your Personal Philosophy?
Ms. Sally Brown Has Quite A Few To Help You Come Up With Ideas.
That's My New Philosophy!
"When I look into the eyes of an animal I do not see an animal. I see a living being. I see a friend. I feel a soul." Quote by A.D. Williams
There are many single quotes I can name that would sum up my own personal beliefs about the world around me. Animals are very important in my life. I treat my pets as I would humans. When I see my cats I see tiny little souls who exist and make my life a better place. And I in return have made their short lives as happy as I can.
"I hope you're never responsible for ending the lives of people, poisoning their water, or destroying nature....I would have failed as a parent if you did that." - My husband
This quote was said my husband @magic-sasquatch to our 5 month old daughter after he watched a video on coal mining and how mountain top removal is destroying peoples' lives. In a way it sums up our philosophy as parents. We hope that our daughter grows up to be a good person. It is our goal to educate her in a way that will guide her on a noble path. We both hope she won't become blinded by the evil practices of capitalism and choose a profession that will destroy the world and hurt innocent people through acts of pollution, immoral rules/regulations, and more.
I can't imagine that sweet face growing up to participate in mountaintop removal.
I could keep going but I want to hear other peoples' single sentence philosophies!
We all have sayings or ideas that guide us in our lives. We all have rules that we follow as we exist and interact with others. Sometimes people share philosophies and sometimes they differ. Culture, time period, current events, religion, major life events, and more influence our ideas about life. Our philosophies change over time and mirror our lives as things change. The philosophies I have now differ from the ones I had when I was younger.
- What rules do you live by that you could teach your children?
- What is the most important rule in your life that you live by?
- Do you have a personal philosophy that reflects what is important in your life? Pets, morals, children, etc.?
A philosophy is something we use to govern our behavior and can be just about anything. As Ms Sally Brown says..."That's a good philosophy" and it's a good one if it helps you make sense of life to lead a happy and fulfilling life!
Photo credit: all photos are mine.
Your daughter is just beautiful @marxrab :)
I like to live by:
'Dance like no one is watching, Sing like no one is listening and Love like you've never been hurt'
Just believe that anything is possible, always remember you are in control of your thoughts and your thoughts become reality.
It is of course not original... and I do not always succeed... but my intention is to live by what Jesus summarized as the two most important commands of the then-existing bible:
Love God with all my being.
Love my neighbor as myself.
Those are abbreviated from his rendering of them, which you can read here if you like.
These I have made every effort to embed in the minds of my grandchildren, in ultimately simple form: "Love God, and love everybody else."
Another form this appears in is as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I have further considered that I can peacefully coexist with anyone who will even follow a least-common-denominator subset of this:
"Just leave me alone."
Sadly, I have yet to find a government or a society that will even abide by that ultimately simple rule. Everyone wants to meddle in my business, tell me what to do, and force me to do it their way. Humbug!
😄😇😄
You live by very nice rules.
It's even more wonderful that every one of these rules is centered around showing love and improving other people's as you improve.
Contrary to popular belief that money makes the world go round, I think the best in place of that quote would be
"Showing love makes the world go round".
Nice write up. Thanks for sharing this
@marxrab "Hard work pays off and Love like your heart had never been broken before." This are some philosophy that I live by.
One of my philosophies of life that I hold dearly is in the words of Anáis Nin, “You cannot save people, you can only love them.”
Very true. I know several people who are pains in the asses and get in trouble all the time but you can't help em. All you can do is be there for them.
Exactly!
Lovely article friend!
"Kindness counts"
Oh man this is a great one. I love Alan Alda. I need to rebinge watch Mash again soon.
As for single sentence that sums up my life....
Give me aliens and spaceships or give me death..... or both.
I'm afraid of aliens...I'll take some fairies or bigfoot first.
And yes....you need to watch MASH.
Wonderful post Marx my thing is to always be kind no matter what because you don't know what's going on in the other persons life, and I thought the same to my kids and to work hard at what you do and be happy while your doing it, not to sweat anything because this too shall pass❤️
"That which you cannot let go of is not worth holding onto."
I don't know if this can be correctly attributed to anyone in particular, but it is always something that I come back to.
build your brand before you die. you may die but your brand doesn't. just like stevejobs made apple.
That is a good one! It definitely is good to build a brand. Mine would revolve around cute little bunnies. ;)