1037 – “That’s one of the great things about music. You can sing a song to 85,000 people and they’ll sing it back for 85,000 different reasons.”

-Dave Grohl

912 – “The world can be seen as only connections, nothing else. We think of a dictionary as the repository of meaning, but it defines words only in terms of other words. I liked the idea that a piece of information is really defined only by what it’s related to, and how it’s related. There really is little else to meaning. The structure is everything.”

-Tim Berners-Lee

873 – “Both flag burners and flag wavers can agree on one thing: The flag has meaning beyond the merely instrumental necessity of having a piece of cloth that identifies a legal jurisdiction.”

–Jonah Goldberg

864 – “The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday, and lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.”

–Neil deGrasse Tyson

804 – “We do not know the true value of our moments until they have undergone the test of memory. Like the images the photographer plunges into a golden bath, our sentiments take on color; and only then, after that recoil and that trans-figuration, do we understand their real meaning and enjoy them in all their tranquil splendor.”

–Georges Duhamel

628 – “In conclusion it may be permitted to me to remark that I have often warned my countrymen of the dangers which now surround us. … I feel that my duty has been faithfully, though it may be imperfectly, performed, and, whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country.”

–James Buchannan, 15th President of the United States of America

453 – “The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them — our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”

–Stanley Kubrick

447 – “I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.”

–Hazel Grace Lancaster in John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars

307 – “We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.”

–Alan Watts [See Source Note for context]

305 – “And in that year [1928], I think I learned far more than I taught. The greatest lesson was this one. Nothing at all matters more than trained intelligence. It is the key to success in life, but is the key to meaning in life. And that is true for a nation, too. Our greatest national resource probably is not even listed in your textbooks. Our greatest resource is the skill, the vision, and the wisdom of our people.”

–Lyndon Johnson, 36th President of the United States of America