Morrie Schwartz. Quotes

Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel.

The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.

You don't understand. You're not a wave. You're part of the ocean.

The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it.

The little things, I can obey. But the big things - how we think, what we value - those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone - or any society - determine those for you.

Although you may be old or sick, it's not too late to take stock and ask yourself if you really are the person you want to be, and if not, who you do want to be.

In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive. And at the end of life, we need others to survive. But here's the secret, in between, we need others as well.

Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?

It's not too late to develop new friendships or reconnect with people.

If you don’t have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all.

After you have wept and grieved for your physical losses, cherish the functions and the life you have left.

Keep your heart open for as long as you can, as wide as you can, for others and especially for yourself.

Be compassionate, and take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much a better place.

So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things.

For me, living means I can be responsive to the other person. It means I can show my emotions and my feelings. Talk to them. Feel with them.

If the culture doesn't work, don't buy it.

Maybe death is the great equalizer, the one big thing that can finally make strangers shed a tear for one another

It’s natural to die. The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don’t see ourselves as part of nature. We think because we’re human we’re something above nature.

Well, the truth is, if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time–then you might not be as ambitious as you are.

We put our values in the wrong things. And it leads to very disillusioned lives.

We think we don't deserve love, we think if we let it in we'll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said." Love is the only rational act.

What tipped the scales was that psychology involved working with rats.

Dying is only one thing to be sad over... Living unhappily is something else.

Build a little community of those you love and who love you

If we can remember the feeling of love we once had, we can die without ever going away.

The best way to deal with that is to live in a fully conscious, compassionate, loving way. Don't wait until you're on your deathbed to recognize that this is the only way to live.

We have a sense that we should be like the mythical cowboy... able to take on and conquer anything and live in the world without the need for other people.

When you look at it that way, you can see how absurd it is that we individualize ourselves with our fences and hoarded possessions.

Once you learn how to die you learn how to live.

Life is like a wrestling match- we struggle to fight but we never know that the only side that wins is the one with great love in it.

One hundred and ten years from now no one who is here now will be alive.

Grieve and mourn for yourself not once or twice, but again and again.

All younger people should know something. If you’re always battling against getting older, you’re always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow.

What's wrong with being number two?

Are you trying to be as human as you can be?

I believe in being fully present. That means you should be with the person you’re with.

Everything that gets born dies.

When you learn to die, you learn to live.

Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my time left?

The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn't the family.

We're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going.

What is it about silence that makes people uneasy?

I'd always been interested in psychology.

Everyone knows they're going to die, but nobody believes it.

This is how you start to get respect: by offering something that you have.

Love is how you stay alive even after you are gone.

Keep your heart open for as long as you can as wide as you can for others and especially for yourself.

If you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can't wait until you're sixty-five.

Once you learn how to diw, you learn how to live

For me, living means I can be responsive to the other person. It means I can show my emotions and my feelings. Talk to them. Feel with them …