The Art of Finding Meaning and Connection in a Transient, Borderless World

These quotes together encourage us to seek joy and resilience not in permanence or possessions but in shared experiences, deep relationships, and the courage to fully engage in the cycles of life.

Photo by Thorium

Quotes

"Happiness doesn’t rise when you buy stuff, but rather when you use your money to pay for memorable experiences or time with people you love, or when you give it away to causes you care about."
(Arthur C. Brooks, Why You’re Better Off Not Borrowing)

"greenhouse gasses neither recognize nor adapt to borders. Likewise, the effects of climate change do not respect lines on a map."
(washingtonpost.com, Opinion | What Canada’s Carbon Pricing Ruling Says About the Global Struggle Against Climate Change)

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again…who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."
(Theodore Roosevelt)

"Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance."
(Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning)

"With the loss of them there follows uncertainty, and with uncertainty, disequilibrium, since life, as both Nietzsche and Ibsen knew, requires life-supporting illusions; and where these have been dispelled, there is nothing secure to hold on to, no moral law, nothing firm."
(Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By)

"Teams need to believe that their work is important. Teams need to feel their work is personally meaningful. Teams need clear goals and defined roles. Team members need to know they can depend on one another. But, most important, teams need psychological safety."
(Charles Duhigg, Smarter Faster Better)

"Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy."
(Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart)