Quote

1860·Concord, Massachusetts, USA

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.

Similar Thoughts

Ralph Waldo Emerson·1850

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, honorable, compassionate.

Seneca·65 AD

The point is, not how long you live, but how nobly you live. And often this living nobly means that you cannot live long.

Pliny the Elder·77 AD

True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read, and in so living as to make the world happier for our living in it.

See all

More from Ralph Waldo Emerson

1844·Boston

Life is a journey, not a destination.

1841

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.

1841·Concord, Massachusetts, USA

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Locus

Concord, Massachusetts, USA

Tempus