80 Handpicked Quotes on Finding Your Purpose & Living a Meaningful Life (+GUIDE!)

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Understanding the meaning and purpose of our lives give us direction and fulfilment. It helps us unearth what we truly want to achieve and what makes us truly happy, giving us the motivation to wake up in morning to go through our daily grinds. Knowing our purpose also helps us understand why we exist and align our actions with our beliefs and values, hence we can make better decisions and prioritise what’s important to us. Here is a step by step guide to find your life’s purpose with carefully sourced and categorised quotes from the best east and west wisdom to help you easily understand the gist. 

Ultimately, finding the meaning of our lives can help us live a more meaningful and satisfying life. You can see my story here. Let’s mark our beginning to a fuller life together: 

First, 19 most inspiring quotes to understand why it’s important to find your life purpose.

Famous Quotes About Life Purpose

1. “If everything vanished on this earth, leaving you alone, does everything you strive become meaningless?” — Yin Haiguang, Taiwanese Philospher
2. “Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” — W. Clement Stone
3. “The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unhappy but hardly fit for life.” — Einstein
4. “Without a sense of purpose, life can feel empty and meaningless” — thesunnyclub.co

1. “The person without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder.” – Thomas Carlyle 
2. “The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.” — John Mason Brown

Need an extra hand to feel grounded and happier? Here’s a list of magical affirmations to help.

3. “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” —  Jim Rohn
4. “The purpose of life is not just 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
5. Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but by the lack of meaning and purpose — Victor Frankl
6. “I’m reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose.” —  Kobe Bryant
7. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven — Ecclesiastes, Bible
8. “It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.” — Winston S. Churchill
9. “True happiness… is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” — Helen Keller

10. No matter how ever-changing the world is and what kind of life you experience, there are still some extremely valuable treasures in life that require us to guard and cherish for a lifetime, and not allow them to be lost easily.  — Liu Hsia, Taiwanese writer
11. To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity. — Frederick Nietzsche
12. The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere is ot be nowhere. — Michel de Montaigne
13. The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them… Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will. — Michel de Montaigne
14. “The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.” ― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
15. “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

21 Uplifting Quotes on how to find your life purpose and living your life on purpose

As to HOW find your purpose, you must first understand your strength, passion, and interests and identify your value. Try to listen to what makes your heart dance! 

1. “Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave ’em all over everything you do.” — Elvis Presley
2. “When you have a strong sense of your own identity and purpose, you don’t need to worry about what others think.” – Oprah Winfrey
3. “Listen to what make your heart dance with joy” — thesunnyclub.co
4. “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” — Oprah Winfrey
5. Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.” —Ayn Rand
6. “Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.”— Buddha
7. “Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” — Harvey MacKay
8. “Don’t sleepwalk through life – find something you really enjoy doing,”— Warren Buffett
9. “I am not on this planet to get something done – the things we accomplish are expressions of our purpose.” — Paul Williams
10. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
11. “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”  — Robert Byrne
12. “Without purpose and values, we are like a kite cut loose in the sky” — thesunnyclub.co
13. “The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” — Albert Schweitzer
14. The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body. — Gandhi
15. “I believe that God has put gifts and talents and ability on the inside of every one of us. When you develop that and you believe in yourself and you believe that you’re a person of influence,  you can rise up out of any situation.” — Joel Osteen
16. No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning.”― Barbara De Angelis
17. “My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I’m happy. I can’t figure it out. What am I doing right?” ― Charles M. Schulz
18. “All successful men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.” ― Brian Tracy
19. “Stand up for your beliefs and speak your truth.” ―Jack Canfield
20. “There is no joy other than the joy of creating. There is no man who is truly alive other than one who is creating. All others are just shadows on the earth with nothing to do with being alive. The joy of living, whether it is love or action, is the joy of creating.” ―Romain Rolland
21. “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

If you find the above too difficult, try to know your why. Ask yourself what you want to do something, why do you feel happy or unhappy about something in your day to day life.

22. “If we possess our why of life we can put up with almost any how.” — Frederick Nietzsche

Here’s one from my recent favourite movie!

23. “You underestimate how the smallest decisions can compound into significant differences over a lifetime” — Ke Huy Quan, Everything, everywhere all at once movie

24 Powerful Quotes to uncover your life’s purpose

Find time in solitude. Ask yourself big questions like “what makes life meaningful for me?” and “what can I keep doing if I only have one year on earth?
I recommend looking at water or something peaceful while you ponder. You may not find the answers right away, but these will sow the seeds in your brain.

1. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” — Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
2. “Our visions are the world we imagine, the tangible results of what the world would look like if we spent every day in pursuit of our why.” — Simon Sinek, Start With Why
3. “Find out who you are.  And do it on purpose” — Dolly Parton
4. Faced with the new wave of thinking, avoidance or suppression are probably not the solution. —  Peter Singer in We Only Have One World
5. Finding why is a process of discovery, not invention  — Simon Sinek, Start With Why

Do more of what you love. Read. Dream (and have fun along the way)!!

1. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” —Steve Jobs
2. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C.S. Lewis
3. “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows”  — Sydney J. Harris
4. “ The “purpose” that one wants to achieve in their heart must always be determined by oneself; what others say are merely an advice.” —  Shih Shang, Taiwanese author
5. The meaning of life to feel genuinely all of it — the sweet, the bitter, the sour and spicy — sometimes all at once —  Shih Shang, Taiwanese author
6. Each of us has a certain instinct that possesses immense vitality.  — Self-Reliance, Emerson
7. “Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self. There is something which you can do better than another. Listen to the inward voice and bravely obey that. Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance and Other Essays
8. “Humor is the light and humorous side of life’s truth.”  — Mark Twain

1. “Our goal is to learn and become more godly through knowledge.”  — Brian Weiss
2. Let us become the conductors of our own lives and play the most beautiful melody of our lives. — Dai Chen-Chih, Taiwanese motivational speaker
3. Life requires investment of time and energy. Missing any step means greater loss. — Huang Yu-Ling, author of My Dream Is Far Away, 
4.  Human dignity is not innate, but rather is tempered through action and self-reflection.” — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 
5. “Just believe in yourself, and you will create miracles.” —   Master Cheng Yen, Quiet Thoughts 
6. “The purpose of life is to shine brightly in the end.  — Master Cheng Yen, Quiet Thoughts 

15. “Respect your inner voice and do not be too concerned with external applause.”  —   Wu Tan-Ju, Living Wisely, 
16. “I believe there’s a calling for all of us. I know that every human being has value and purpose. The real work of our lives is to become aware. And awakened.” — Oprah Winfrey
17. The happiest person in the world is the one who is internally fulfilled and has true peace. —- Wu Deng-Shan, Seeing Life 
18. Understand yourself, live out your nature, treat others honestly, and influence those around us with our sincerity. – Seeing Life, Wu Deng-Shan
19. “The heart of human excellence often begins to beat when you discover a pursuit that absorbs you, frees you, challenges you, or gives you a sense of meaning, joy, or passion.” —Terry Orlick

7 quotes to find the meaning of life when you take action & grow

Leave time to adventure and try out new things outside your comfort zone!

1. “Life is a journey, and if you fall in love with the journey, you will be in love forever.” — Peter Hagerty
2. “Either cry or do something” —  Julia Roberts, Movie Mother’s day movie
3. “It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.” — Batman, Batman Begins movie
4. People who use time wisely spend it on activities that advance their overall purpose in life  — John. C Maxwell
5. “The meaning of life is to be found in the stimulation of creation.” — Romain Rolland.

Sometimes the worse sufferings in our life turn into our meaning and purpose!

6. To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering — Frederick Nietzsche
7. “The climb might be tough and challenging, but the view is worth it. There is a purpose for that pain; you just can’t always see it right away.” – Victoria Arlen

Some extra love and help are sent from Sunny Club if you are going through grief, breakups and heartbreaks here. Don’t hold back if you need to take an emotional break!

7 Empowering Quotes to Summarise the Power of Purpose

Finding your purpose in life will empower you. The purpose of life, defined by these famous spiritual teachers and leaders say about the purpose of life: 

1. Rise above and soar like eagles to your purpose! — Porsha Willliams
2. “The purpose of life is to find your gift. The meaning of life is to give it away.” — Pablo Picasso
3. “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
4. The true meaning of life is helping others achieve freedom from suffering. — Buddha
5. “The purpose of life is to live it, to experience it to the fullest extent possible.” 
6. “The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.” — Robert F. Kennedy
7. The meaning of life can only be found in the present moment. The past is gone, and the future is unattainable; if we do not seek the present moment, we will never touch the pulse of life. —  Barbara De Angelis, Living in the Moment

(Extended reading: example and story on what it mean to be fully present💕)

More Guide and Examples in Finding Deeper Purpose In Life

If these quotes get you thinking about your own purpose (which I think is also one of the reason that brought you here), here is the complete guide with examples from ordinary people to celebrities on how they find theirs.

It is also advisable to talk to someone wise or a true friend in your life to tell you about your strengths and their interpretation. In our site, we also share interviews on how our female founders, creatives and artists found their purpose and voices. Don’t miss out!

Conclusion

It took me two years for identify my grand purpose on life. All in all, I believe that life is not just about one grand purpose, but also made up of the small joys on the process. What about you?