Life is precious, and we only have one to live

16 Life Is Short Quotes That Will Help You Savor Every Moment

There’s a dichotomy when it comes to life. It’s the longest thing we experience, yet it goes by so quickly and feels so short. It’s easy to assume that we’ll have tomorrow, next week and next year to really do the things we want. But the truth is that life is precious and isn’t guaranteed—which is why it’s important to life your life now and not waste a moment. If you need a reminder of that, these gratitude quotes might help. And if you need some motivation, read on for some life is short quotes that will really put things into perspective and inspire action.
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Life is short quotes that inspire you to live your best life
1. “Life is short, and it is here to be lived.” –Kate Winslet
2. “Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind.” —Henri Frédéric Amiel
3. “Life is too short to be living somebody else’s dream.” —Hugh Hefner
4. “You may delay, but time will not.” —Benjamin Franklin
5. “How did it get so late so soon?” —
6. “Time is long but life is short.” —Stevie Wonder
7. “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” —Mother Teresa
8. “Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not.” —
9. “Life is too short not to have pasta, steak and butter.” —Iman
10. “Life was for living, so why was I wasting?” —
11. “Life is too short to blend in.” —Paris Hilton
12. “Life is short and the older you get, the more you feel it. Indeed, the shorter it is.” —Viggo Mortensen
13. “The future starts today, not tomorrow.” —
14. “We practice getting to know the voices of our inner landscape a little bit better. The more we become familiar with these inner parts and voices the more choice we have with who is in the driver’s seat.” —Gretchen Bleiler
15. “Time moves slowly, but passes quickly.” —
16. “No matter how much you have achieved, to get to the next level you are going to have to get even better.” —Marshall Goldsmith
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite quotes for over 100 years. The sayings and quips that appear in the magazine’s “Quotable Quotes” (formerly “Remarkable Remarks”) are curated from interviews and essays originally published in the magazine, reprints from trusted titles and other verified sources. For this piece, Kelly Kuehn tapped her experiences as a lifestyle editor for Reader’s Digest to ensure that all information is accurate. We’ve gone the extra step and had Christine Coppa, a fact-checker with 20-plus years of experience, including serving as staff research editor at Philadelphia magazine and at Essence, verify that all quotes are attributed correctly and have credible sourcing. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.