Purpose Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old purpose quotes, purpose sayings, and purpose proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

The first principle of ethical power is Purpose. By purpose, I don't mean your objective or intention-something toward which you are always striving. Purpose is something bigger. It is the picture you have of yourself-the kind of person you want to be or the kind of life you want to lead. Ken Blanchard
Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live. Criss Jami
Purpose is the place where your deep gladness meets the world's needs. Frederick Buechner
The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things. Rainer Maria Rilke
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
The purpose of life is not to fight against evil and misfortune; it is to unveil magnificence. Alan Cohen
Everything in this life has a purpose, there are no mistakes, no coincidences. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Our chief usefulness to humanity rests on our combining power with high purpose. Power undirected by high purpose spells calamity, and high purpose by itself is utterly useless if the power to put it into effect is lacking. Theodore Roosevelt
There is a purpose to our lives that each day tugs at our sleeve as an annoying distraction. Robert Brault
The purpose of life is to glorify God in both good and hard times alike. T. B. Joshua
This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. George Bernard Shaw
Having a sense of purpose is having a sense of self. A course to plot is a destination to hope for. Bryant H. McGill
You can come to understand your purpose in life by slowing down and feeling your heart's desires. Marcia Wieder
A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes everywhere even the careless, the most stupid thinker. David Hume
Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. Washington Irving
The first thing to do in life is to do with purpose what one purposes to do. Pablo Casals
If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose. T. D. Jakes
The purpose of life is a life of purpose. Robert Bryne
The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. Eleanor Roosevelt
I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, after all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all. Leo C. Rosten
Find a purpose in life so big it will challenge every capacity to be at your best. David O. McKay
The purpose of life is not to be happy—but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all. Leo Rosten
Success is... knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others. John C. Maxwell
You can accept reality, or you can persist in your purpose until reality accepts you. Robert Brault
Man is fulfilling the purpose of existence who no longer needs to have any purpose except to live. That is to say, who is content. Ludwig Wittgenstein
I don't think life is absurd. I think we are all here for a huge purpose. I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for. Norman Mailer
When you walk in purpose, you collide with destiny. Ralph Buchanan
The life purpose of the true social entrepreneur is to change the world. Bill Drayton
Everything happens for a reason and a purpose, and it serves you. Anthony Robbins
The secret of success is constancy to purpose. Benjamin Disraeli