“Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
Morrie Schwartz, via Tuesdays With Morrie (Page 82)
Morrie Schwartz Quotes
“Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do thing differently. To know you’re going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time. That’s better. That way you can actually be more involved in your life while you’re living.”
Morrie Schwartz, via Tuesdays With Morrie (Page 81)
“It’s what everyone worries about isn’t it? What if today were my last day on earth? …The culture doesn’t encourage you to think about such things until you’re about to die. We’re so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks—we’re involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don’t get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?”
Morrie Schwartz, via Tuesdays With Morrie (Page 64)
“It’s horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it’s also wonderful because of all the time I get to say good-bye. Not everyone is so lucky.”
Morrie Schwartz, via Tuesdays With Morrie (Page 57)
“I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On the people who are coming to see me. On the stories I’m going to hear. On you—if it’s Tuesday. Because we’re Tuesday people.”
Morrie Schwartz, via Tuesdays With Morrie (Page 57)
“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in. Let it come in. 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.'”
Morrie Schwartz, via Tuesdays With Morrie (Page 52)
“Now that I’m suffering, I feel closer to people who suffer than I ever did before. The other night, on TV, I saw people in Bosnia running across the street, getting fired upon, killed, innocent victims… and I just started to cry. I feel their anguish as if it were my own. I don’t know any of these people. But—how can I put this?—I’m almost… drawn to them.”
Morrie Schwartz, via Tuesdays With Morrie (Page 50)
“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. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
Morrie Schwartz, via Tuesdays With Morrie (Page 43)
“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.”
Morrie Schwartz, via Tuesdays With Morrie (Page 42)