Life Decisions Choices Quotes & Sayings

We rarely consider that we're also formed by the decisions we didn't make, by events that could have happened but didn't, or by our lack of choices, for that matter. (p. 22) — Rabih Alameddine

What you choose today will determine who you are tomorrow. — Tim Fargo

On every journey you take, you are met with options. At every fork in the road, you make a choice. These are the decisions that shape your life. — Mike DeWine

Be open about your thoughts, ideas, and desires and you will be right with your decisions. — Auliq Ice

We're making decisions right now that shape our lives. Even indecision is a decision. What's going on today is a result of the choices we've made in the past. — Toni Sorenson

Since no man ever can, or could, live by himself and for himself alone, the destinies of thousands of other people were bound to be affected, some remotely, but some very directly and near-at-hand, by my own choices and decisions and desires, as my own life would also be formed and modified according to theirs. — Thomas Merton

The measure of a man comes down to moments, spread out like dots of pain on the canvas on life. Everything you were, everything you'll someday be, resides in the small, seemingly ordinary choices of everyday life ... Each decision seems as insignificant as a left turn on an unfamiliar road when you have no destination in mind. But the decisions accumulate until you realize one day that they've made you the man that you are. — Kristin Hannah

Mom always liked to say that we hardly ever know the decisions we make that change our lives, mostly because they are little ones. You took this bus instead of that one and ended up meeting your soul mate, that kind of thing. But there was no doubt in my mind that this was one of those life-changing moments. — Rachel Hawkins

I don't know Kitten," she said, zipping up her money belt, "but I'll tell you one thing--if it were a book, I wouldn't be able to put it down. — Kate Mulgrew

You never want one thing at any given moment of life. Your mind always comes up with at least two choices. If your limbic system wins, the choice you make seems to be pleasurable at first but in the long run ends up being the wrong one. And if your prefrontal cortex wins the choice you make may appear rough at first, but in the long run it turns out to be the right one. — Abhijit Naskar

Little choices determine habit;
Habit carves and molds character
Which makes the big decisions. — Elizabeth George

Life's journey does not take place down an easy roadway, as some might imagine. It takes place inside a giant house with a million doorways. Every day of our lives we are faced with decisions to make, doorways to walk through. It can be confusing at times, like walking through a carnival maze. Some decisions we make are big, some small, but they all have consequences.. — K. Martin Beckner

I think normally people think that they're afraid to die but I actually think people are more afraid to live. People are more afraid to make the choices that they want because they're very hard decisions to make in order to be happy. I think a lot of people are really afraid of that. It's easy to be in a band because you have a lot of things to hide behind so that's really not always living ... that doesn't always constitute as living life the way you want. But at times you have to make decisions that sometimes hurt others in order to live. — Gerard Way

Ian pretended that not knowing what to do was the hard part when, somewhere inside, I think he knew that making a choice about something is when the real uncertainty begins. The more terrifying uncertainty is wanting something and not knowing how to get it. It is working toward something even though there is no sure thing. When we make choices, we open ourselves up to hard work and failure and heartbreak, so sometimes it feels easier not to know, not to choose, and not to do. — Meg Jay

Misperceiving that there is one correct choice is a common mistake. Coming to understand that there are usually a few good choices
and then there's the one you pick, commit to, and make great
is the best way to make flexible, optimal, good decisions in life. — Katie Couric

The choices Israelis face and the decisions they make, day in and day out, are literally the difference between life and death. In many ways, I liken their reactions to the way I felt while serving in Iraq. — Pete Hegseth

Some choices we make for people around and some decisions we take for thyself! — Rachana Shakyawar

Sometimes another person's fear tells you that everything you're about to do is right. — Shannon L. Alder

The decisions you make about your work life are especially important, since most people spend more of their waking lives working than doing anything else. Your choices will affect, not only yourself and those closest to you, but in some way the whole world. — Laurence Boldt

We don't want to be afraid to make a choice because we're afraid to make a mistake because most decisions aren't final. Feelings change all the time. You can always change your mind and taking risks and making choices is what makes life so exciting because we never know what's going to happen. Every day something new comes our way. — Amy Poehler

Life is as simple as these three questions: What do I want? Why do I want it? And, how will I achieve it? — Shannon L. Alder

Show the youth the consequences of their actions and why they should choose wisely — Sunday Adelaja

If we have to wait to see how we feel before we know if we can enjoy the day, then we are giving feelings control over us. But thankfully we have free will and can make decisions that are not based on feelings. If we are willing to make right choices regardless of how we feel, God will always be faithful to give us the strength to do so. Living the good life that God has made ready for us is based on our being obedient to His way of being and doing. He gives us the strength to do what is right, but we are the ones who must choose it ... God won't do it for us. — Joyce Meyer

I'm not forcing you to do anything. You need to make your own damn decisions . And I'm not playing this game where we ignore reality and pretend to have a normal conversation for a few hours. You need to face reality and stop turning life into a movie. I'm not a puppet in your show. This is real life and you're always trying to ignore it for some cheap fantasy version where no problems exist. That's not noble of you, okay? You're not strong. You're a weak person like the rest of us. You've just learned to excel at avoiding issues. But there are issues . Life has so many freaking issues and if you can't force your own self to face life and make decisions without someone telling you what the hell to do, you're just going to end up another chess piece moved around by others. — Marilyn Grey

It's hard to know how people select a course in life," Amos said. "The big choices we make are practically random. The small choices probably tell us more about who we are. Which field we go into may depend on which high school teacher we happen to meet. Who we marry may depend on who happens to be around at the right time of life. On the other hand, the small decisions are very systematic. That I became a psychologist is probably not very revealing. What kind of psychologist I am may reflect deep traits. — Michael Lewis

This is the time to rise up and design(customize) your life. — Bernard Kelvin Clive

to be right in the wrong direction may be wrong; what then is the wrong direction? — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

When you're in love with two people, always choose the second. The fact that you are constantly thinking of the second person makes it obvious that the first will never fulfill you, unless the second person did not fulfill you either. At this point, you have to choose the third person because God is getting a little tired of your inattention and indecisiveness, and is planning on sending a fourth person into your life just to slap you around with the bible for not entering the promised land. — Shannon L. Alder

You are only earning the life you get when your inaction allows people to decide for you. — Shannon L. Alder

- I can't make choices like that without knowing who I am. Without knowing all the implications.
- You can't ever know in advance. Big decisions require faith. — Doug Dorst

when true purpose calls, double mindedness, confusion and frustration come along. — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

With the need for the self in the time of another / I left my seaport grim and dear / knowing good work could be made / in the state governed by both Hope and Despair. — Roman Payne

The principle of self-reliance grows out of a fundamental doctrine of the Church, that of agency. Just as each individual is accountable for his choices and actions in spiritual matters, so also is he accountable in temporal matters. It is through our own efforts and decisions that we earn our way in this life. While the Lord will magnify us in both subtle and dramatic ways, he can only guide our footsteps when we move our feet. Ultimately, our own actions determine our blessings or lack of them. It is a direct consequence of both agency and accountability. — Marion G. Romney

Create you own singleness, your own loneliness, and know that you know this is exactly what you are doing. And feel damn right about it. — Margaret Aranda

Life is about decisions, so quit blaming someone else for the bad choices you make. — Karen Beaudin

Until YOU get enough of what you're going through, no matter what advice a person gives you, you'll continue to go through the same thing. When you get the courage to stop making excuses for them, and stop excusing their behavior, then you'll be able to break free from that unhealthy situation. You've got to be willing to face YOUR truth in order to move on and be at peace. You matter! — Stephanie Lahart

But nirvana is a radical transformation of how it feels to be alive: it feels as if everything were myself, or as if everything
including "my" thoughts and actions
were happening of itself. There are still efforts, choices, and decisions, but not the sense that "I make them"; they arise of themselves in relation to circumstances. This is therefore to feel life, not as an encounter between subject and object, but as a polarized field where the contest of opposites has become the play of opposites. — Alan W. Watts

Welcome to the real-life experience of "knowledge work," and a profound operational principle: you have to think about your stuff more than you realize but not as much as you're afraid you might. As Peter Drucker wrote: "In knowledge work . . . the task is not given; it has to be determined. 'What are the expected results from this work?' is . . . the key question in making knowledge workers productive. And it is a question that demands risky decisions. There is usually no right answer; there are choices instead. And results have to be clearly specified, if productivity is to be achieved."* — David Allen

We are condemned to be free people, liberated people who must make life-defining decisions. Freedom requires choices and all choices entail value decisions. — Kilroy J. Oldster

Freedom is the choice to be free than to be a slave. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The only way to find peace is to face the unknown and trust that God has heard your tears. — Shannon L. Alder

Even if we have ourselves so fully convinced that we are on the right track because we desperately want the specific direction we have chosen to be the correct one, if the universe disagrees with our choices, it will not be shy in telling us so. — Miya Yamanouchi

People aren't often asked to make life or death decisions. There are no causes to die for. You can go through life never knowing which of your friends would really come through for you — Bella Pollen

Although I love elegant parties, dancing and dining and spending the night with a sweet woman in my arms, my life belongs to literature. — Roman Payne

I don't regret any of the decisions I've made in my life because with every choice I make, I learn something new. — Siva Kaneswaren

If you don't want to deal with things like guilt, shame and disappointment later on in life, then you'll have t start now by making choices that won't result in those things...tomorrow's regret depends on today's decisions. If you don't want to regret your physical intimacy tomorrow, then you'll have to be living in un-regrettable physical intimacy today. — Lisa Velthouse

I don't know how often opportunity knocks, but temptations to make foul decisions bang on my door all day long. And smelly decisions make for smelly problems later on. A few little decisions, good or bad, can make a big difference in a life. Better to run from those skunks than with them. — Steve Goodier

If you believe that hard work pays off, then you work hard; if you think it's hard to get ahead even when you try, then why try at all? Similarly, when people do fail, this mind-set allows them to look outward. I once ran into an old acquaintance at a Middletown bar who told me that he had recently quit his job because he was sick of waking up early. I later saw him complaining on Facebook about the "Obama economy" and how it had affected his life. I don't doubt that the Obama economy has affected many, but this man is assuredly not among them. His status in life is directly attributable to the choices he's made, and his life will improve only through better decisions. But for him to make better choices, he needs to live in an environment that forces him to ask tough questions about himself. There is a cultural movement in the white working class to blame problems on society or the government, and that movement gains adherents by the day. — J.D. Vance

Define your life,
Define your world,
Define your passions,
Define your goals. — Lailah Gifty Akita

In every experience we get to choose either love or fear as a response. Your character is formed by the percentages of those choices, which then forms your life. — Shannon L. Alder

She chose the attractive room, not noticing the cloven hoof exposed beneath the ornate curtains. That decision has surely haunted her every day since, finally catching up to her. — K. Martin Beckner

Every brush stroke on the canvas, every dab of color introduced, the fine textures impressed in the paint - this accumulation of many small acts combines to shape a final work of art. And so it is with life; each step, each deed, each brief choice builds gradually, day by day, to shape both character and destiny. — Richelle E. Goodrich

Taking responsibility and having faith in your own judgment will help you make good choices and decisions at the end of your pet's life. — Jon Katz

The choices we make in life are equally important to us, as those of others are to them. It is an arrogant attitude in the mind of those who feel superior to believe their choices are better than others. Having respect for others regardless of who they are is the greatest choice anyone can make. — Ellen J. Barrier

I love you enough to tell you the truth whether you want to hear it or not, but what you do afterward is your choice alone. — Ashley Ormon

If you don't choose what you want, someone make the choice for you. — Lailah Gifty Akita

I've been thinking about all the things I might have done differently. All the choices I didn't make. All the decisions that made and unmade me, all the actions and inactions I did or didn't take. With the shades drawn and the garbage overflowing, I've been thinking about all the bold steps I never took, all the gut instincts I didn't listen to, all the people I let down. I've been thinking about the cruel mathematics of my life, looking at my sums and wishing I'd shown my work. — Jonathan Evison

Your actions are your own. Your choices are your own. Each of us carries a burden of guilt for decisions made or not made. You can let that rule your whole life or you can put it behind you and move on. Only a madman lets jealousy determine the course of his existence. Only a weak man blames others for his own errors. — Juliet Marillier

Sometimes we need to do things we'd rather not do, in order to get the peace that we need; to look after our own well-being and to return to a healthy state. Decisions we may make may hurt others at times. Sometimes it hurts us too. I have found myself in situations like this recently. It a hard choice. But truly, there are times that we have to take care of ourselves. Sometimes there are no good choices, just painful ones ... Sometimes that's just how real life is. — Jose N. Harris

In order to be authentic, you have to make decisions based on what you want, rather than how it will be perceived. — Shannon L. Alder

You get to decide what to worship. — David Foster Wallace

Contentment is a state of happiness and satisfaction. The choices we make are our own decisions for how we want to live our life. — Ellen J. Barrier

Life moves based on our Decisions not by choices provided by Lord — Samsi Yadav

Some decisions in life naturally lead to an unhappy ending, leaving you sinking by degrees in a lake of quicksand. And, unless someone reaches to pull you out, chances are you will drown in the consequences. — Richelle E. Goodrich

God invites. We decline. And because of that single foolhardy decision we spend the rest of our lives 'declining'. — Craig D. Lounsbrough

A lot of things should have been, Zigmund, but they aren't. Are you going to be miserable about the things you cannot change, or do something about the things you can? — Melika Dannese Lux

Your choices are made in a moment, and yet their consequences transcend a lifetime. — MJ DeMarco

We are each living a story. What many of us are too afraid to admit is that we are the authors of our story. You are living the life you chose for yourself. You are living the result of each and every one of your choices. If you are letting others make decisions for you, you are allowing them to write your story. Do they have your best interests at heart? If you are unhappy, whose fault is that? Don't like your life, go write yourself a better one. — Michael R. Fletcher

For a witch stands on the very edge of everything, between the light and the dark, between life and death, making choices, making decisions so that others may pretend no decisions have even been needed. Sometimes they need to help some poor soul through the final hours, help them to find the door, not to get lost in the dark. — Terry Pratchett

There are always choices in life. People are going to pull you in all directions. Where you end up is a direct result of how wise your decisions are. — Colleen Coble

Although it pains me to admit it, I am quite familiar with the holes in life. And this familiarity is due to the fact that I spend far more time in these holes than I spend on the paths that brought me to them. — Craig D. Lounsbrough

You have to make your own choices in life. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Don't fear to take a daring action. It is truest act to your destiny. — Lailah Gifty Akita

For decades we have been living lives of abundance, with little regard for our natural resources or global health. But we are now facing hard choices in our energy policy. Future generations - my children and grandchildren, along with yours - will have to live with the decisions we make today. And so it is time for us to make some tough and - hopefully - smart choices regarding our energy use and production before it is too late. — John McCain

Living a life somewhere else in your mind is nothing more than being a prisoner where you are. — Shannon L. Alder

The choices and decisions we make in terms of how we use the land ultimately affect our very DNA. Environmental issues are life issues. — Terry Tempest Williams

Choices and decisions must be supported by your passion, resolve and a productive work ethic. If these meet opportunity - your success has finally come! — Archibald Marwizi

Life is a choice. Your choices each day determine what outcomes happen in your life. It is by choice, not by chance, that will determine your life. An Unstoppable Life begins by taking responsibility for your choices. — Thomas Narofsky

It was too late - everything was too late. For years now he had dreamed the world away, basing his decisions upon emotions unstable as water. — F Scott Fitzgerald

People say that it's the big decisions that are important ... that these are the type of issues worthy of prolonged consideration. But no one ever explains how it's the little choices that send your life careening in another direction. — Julie Gittus

There are moments when you stand on the brink of a new experience and understand that you have no choice about it. Either you walk into the experience or you turn away from it, but you know that no matter what you choose, you will have altered your life in a permanent way. Either way, there will be consequences. — Dennis Covington

We all make a lot of choices in life. Most of the time we can't see with perfect clarity where those choices will lead. It's only with hindsight that we can look back and judge the wisdom-or lack thereof-of the decisions we made. We choose that path less taken and when we find ourselves all alone in the middle of the woods at night, only then do we ask, "What the fuck was I thinking? — Cameron Haley

Life is an endlessly creative experience, and we are shaping ourselves at every moment by every decision we make. — Kent Nerburn

Your leadership principles give that unique character to your leadership brand. When all your responses, decisions, choices and leadership practices are filtered through your well defined principles, you have automatically connected yourself to making the success of your leadership excellence brand more deliberate. — Archibald Marwizi

If I have refused to risk, I have in the self-same decision refused to love. And if indeed I have refused to love, tragically I have refused to live. And when will I realize that that in and of itself is an unacceptable risk. — Craig D. Lounsbrough

What I allow into my head finds its way to my heart, which is a porthole to my soul. Therefore, I might be wise to consider the state of my soul, and then walk this process backwards. — Craig D. Lounsbrough

The real dividing line between things we call work and the things we call leisure is that in leisure, however active we may be, we make our own choices and our own decisions. We feel for the time being that our life is our own. — Raymond Williams

In life, most short cuts end up taking longer than taking the longer route. — Suzy Kassem

One mistake cannot justify another. — Raheel Farooq

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Perhaps it's time to inventory the imprints and anchors in our own life. Even if they once were completely reasonable, are they still reasonable? Once the old choices are reconsidered, we can open ourselves to new decisions-and the new opportunities of a new day. — Dan Ariely

In life, everybody faces choices between doing what's popular, easy, and wrong vs. doing what's lonely, difficult, and right. These decisions intensify when you run a company, because the consequences get magnified 1,000 fold. As in life, the excuses for CEOs making the wrong choice are always plentiful. — Ben Horowitz

To improve your life, be prepared to make new choices and decisions. — Brian Tracy

Every individual ought to travel on his or her own destiny path. — Lailah Gifty Akita

You have to understand that in a person's life there are a few precious moments in which decisions, choices that you make now, will affect you for the rest of your life. — Dave Pelzer

Those things which we call extraordinary,remarkable, or unusual may make history, but they do not make real life.
After all, to do well those things which God ordained to be the common lot of all mankind, is the truest greatness. To be a successful father or a successful mother is greater than to be a successful general or a successful statesman.' (Juvenile Instructor, 15 Dec. 1905,
p. 752.) ...
True greatness is never a result of a chance occurrence or a one-time effort or achievement. It requires the development of character. It requires a multitude of correct decisions for the everyday choices between good and evil. — Joseph Fielding Smith

Strike had never wanted children; it was one of the things on which he and Charlotte had always agreed, and it had been one of the reasons other relationships over the years had foundered. Lucy deplored his attitude, and the reasons he gave for it; she was always miffed when he stated life aims that differed from hers, as though he were attacking her decisions and choices. — Robert Galbraith

A goal will always tell you where you don't want to be. — Shannon L. Alder

Our decisions are the one thing we can control. Today's the day to make those choices really count. — Michael Hyatt

Life is a series of decisions and reactions. It is the things you do and the things that are done to you.
And then it's over. — Noah Hawley

I realized much later in life that the reason this decision between MIT and IBM was so agonizing was because it wasn't really about choosing a career; it was about deciding who I was, which part of myself I wanted to be, and that's the hardest decision any of us has to make. — Mike Massimino