Morrie Schwartz

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

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

"I'm going to participate in my own life instead of being a bystander."

"You know what happens in the end? You die. You don't know when, you don't know how, but you know that will happen."

"The struggle is good. The man in bed is living out part of his dying."

"The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you know what the cure is? The same thing that works for so many things. It's kindness and love."

"You know what my old professor used to say? He said, 'The most important thing is to love one another.'"

"We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, things that don't at all matter when we're dying."

"Accept what you are able to do and the importance of the things you cannot do."

"Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others."

"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."

"There are people who go out there and make things happen. There are people who see things happen. There are people who wonder what happened."

"The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people rest. There is only change."

"So you think you're in control? But you're not. You have to embrace what you do control."

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

"The most important investment is in the people around you."

"I give people permission to live."

"When you go back to square one, it is not embarrassing, it is enlightening."

"You need someone to validate you. Human beings need that."

"We live in a world where distractions are plentiful. You have to learn to focus on what really matters."

"It's not just that I'm dying. I'm living. I'm really living."

"The little things? There are nothing but little things."

"You still have possibilities. You have a chance to succeed where most people fail."

"Try to be like the pine tree. Be strong in your roots and flexible in your branches."

"One day everyone will know you. But for now, you're just living your life."

"I can't help someone who won't help themselves."

"The trick is not to fear change, because nothing in the world stays the same."

"We put our work before our lives. We let the culture tell us what we should do."

"Do I seem frail to you? Because I don't feel frail. I feel alive."

"I don't allow myself to have hatred. It's too destructive."