Alan Cohen Quotes

It always seems to me that so few people live - they just seem to exist and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't live always - til we die physically.

One must live as if it would be forever, and as if one might die each moment. Always both at once.

You have to live before you die, or you'll die before you live.

What you have to decide... is how you want your life to be. If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you'd want to have spent it? Listen, the truth is, nothing is guaranteed. You know that more than anybody. So dont be afraid. Be alive.

if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive.

You're alive only once, as far as we know, and what could be worse than getting to the end of your life and realizing you hadn't lived it?

It is only when we become aware that our time is limited that we can channel our energy into truly living

The only dream worth having, I told her, is to dream that you will live while you're alive and die only when you're dead.

The most important thing to do before you die is live.

Only by being prepared for your death can you ever truly live.

Death is promised. So what do you do with your life? How do you make the most of it? How do you make your voice the loudest?

Of course, there are questions that plague all of us. How did we get here? What happens when we die? Is there a heaven? Am I on the list? Who let the dogs out?

Everyone's dying. A little, every day. Make it count.

I know my time will come soon enough, but I will not dwell on it. What is the purpose? We might as well dwell on the work of our teeth or on the mechanics of our walk. It is there, it will always be there, and I don't intend to spend my glorious hours looking over my shoulder to see death's icy face.

Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in the light of eternity.

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.

Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?

Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.

I'd rather die while I'm living then live while I'm dead.

By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.

find your eternity in each moment

You have to remember one life, one death–this one! To enter fully the day, the hour, the moment whether it appears as life or death, whether we catch it on the inbreath or outbreath, requires only a moment, this moment. And along with it all the mindfulness we can muster, and each stage of our ongoing birth, and the confident joy of our inherent luminosity. (24)

An awareness of death encourages us to live more intensely.

It sometimes seems that we live as if we wonder when life is going to begin. It isn't always clear just what we are waiting for, but some of us sometimes persist in waiting so long that life slips by - finding us still waiting for something that has been going on all the time. . . . This is the life in which the work of this life is to be done. Today is as much a part of eternity as any day a thousand years ago or as will be any day a thousand years hence. This is it, whether we are thrilled or disappointed, busy or bored! This is life, and it is passing.