Quote

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.

Morrie Schwartz

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Morrie Schwartz
Age: 78 †
Born: 1916
Born: December 20
Died: 1995
Died: November 4
Professor
Sociologist
University Teacher
Writer
New York City
New York
Things
Choose
Think
Anyone
Thinking
Society
Values
Bigs
Littles
Obey
Little
Determine
Must
Value

More quotes by Morrie Schwartz

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And, in addition to all the miseries, the young are not wise. They have very little understanding about life. Who wants to live every day when you don't know what's going on? When people are manipulating you, telling you to buy this perfume and you'll be beautiful, or this pair of jeans and you'll be sexy-and you believe them! It's such nonsense.
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It's not too late to develop new friendships or reconnect with people.
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When you look at it that way, you can see how absurd it is that we individualize ourselves with our fences and hoarded possessions.
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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.
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Maybe death is the great equalizer, the one big thing that can finally make strangers shed a tear for one another
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Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward.
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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.
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There is no experience like having children...If you want the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children.
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Grieve and mourn for yourself not once or twice, but again and again.
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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.
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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.
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You don't understand. You're not a wave. You're part of the ocean.
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When you learn to die, you learn to live.
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Do the kind of things that come from the heart, When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overhelmed with what comes back
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What tipped the scales was that psychology involved working with rats.
Morrie Schwartz
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The truth is, part of me is every age. I delight in being a child when it’s appropriate to be a child. I delight in being a wise old man when it’s appropriate to be a wise old man. Think of all I can be! I am every age, up to my own.
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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.
Morrie Schwartz
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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.
Morrie Schwartz
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Everyone knows they're going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did we would do things differently. Do what the Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?
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What's wrong with being number two?
Morrie Schwartz