49 Jack London Quotes About Life (NOVELIST)

Top 14 Most Famous Jack London Quotes (BEST)

“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
Jack London

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time. — The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my **time**.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well. — **Life** is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

Show me a man with a tattoo and I'll show you a man with an interesting past. — Show me a man with a **tattoo** and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past.

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. — The man who does not **read** good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. — You can’t wait for **inspiration**. You have to go after it with a club.

Life is so short. I would rather sing one song than interpret the thousand. — **Life** is so short. I would rather sing one song than interpret the thousand.

The strongest and most mysterious power in the world is the power of thought.

The most beautiful stories always start with wreckage.

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog. — A bone to the **dog** is not charity. **Charity** is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.

It is so much easier to live placidly and complacently. Of course, to live placidly and complacently is not to live at all.

There's only one way to make a beginning, and that is to begin; and begin with hard work, and patience, prepared for all the disappointments. — There’s only one way to make a beginning, and that is to begin; and begin with **hard work**, and **patience**, prepared for all the **disappointments**.

I do not live for what the world thinks of me, but for what I think of myself.

The function of strength is to serve justice. The purpose of power is to protect the weak. — The function of **strength** is to serve **justice**. The **purpose** of power is to protect the weak.

20 Wise Jack London Quotes To Live By (WISDOM)

“Love cannot in its very nature be peaceful or content. It is a restlessness, an unsatisfaction. I can grant a lasting love just as I can grant a lasting unsatisfaction; but the lasting love cannot be coupled with possession, for love is pain and desire and possession is easement and fulfilment.”
Jack London

I'd rather sing one wild song and burst my heart with it, than live a thousand years watching my digestion and being afraid of the wet. — I’d rather sing one wild song and burst my heart with it, than live a thousand years watching my digestion and being afraid of the wet.

The function of man is to live, not to exist.

“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.”
Jack London

Socialism, when the last word is said, is merely a new economic and political system whereby more men can get food to eat.

Limited minds can recognize limitations only in others.

“And how have I lived? Frankly and openly, though crudely. I have not been afraid of life. I have not shrunk from it. I have taken it for what it was at its own valuation. And I have not been ashamed of it. Just as it was, it was mine.”
Jack London

You look back and see how hard you worked and how poor you were, and how desperately anxious you were to succeed, and all you can remember is how happy you were. — You look back and see how hard you worked and how poor you were, and how desperately anxious you were to **succeed**, and all you can remember is how happy you were.

Fear urged him to go back, but growth drove him on. — **Fear** urged him to go back, but **growth** drove him on.

Intelligent men are cruel. Stupid men are monstrously cruel.

“Why, if there is anything in supply and demand, life is the cheapest thing in the world. There is only so much water, so much earth, so much air; but the life that is demanding to be born is limitless. Nature is a spendthrift. Look at the fish and their millions of eggs. For that matter, look at you and me. In our loins are the possibilities of millions of lives. Could we but find time and opportunity and utilize the last bit and every bit of the unborn life that is in us, we could become the fathers of nations and populate continents. Life? Bah! It has no value. Of cheap things it is the cheapest. Everywhere it goes begging. Nature spills it out with a lavish hand. Where there is room for one life, she sows a thousand lives, and its life eats life till the strongest and most piggish life is left.”
Jack London

Darn the wheel of the world! Why must it continually turn over? Where is the reverse gear?

If cash comes with fame, come fame; if cash comes without fame, come cash.

But I am I. And I won't subordinate my taste to the unanimous judgment of mankind. — But I am I. And I won’t subordinate my taste to the unanimous judgment of mankind.

As one grows weaker one is less susceptible to suffering. There is less hurt because there is less to hurt.

It's better to stand by someone's side than by yourself. — It’s better to stand by someone’s side than by yourself.

Desire is a pain which seeks easement through possession.

The game of life is good, though all of life may be hurt, and though all lives lose the game in the end.

15 Jack London Quotes to Ponder

“Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest.”
Jack London

The wild still lingered in him and the wolf in him merely slept.

Age is never so old as youth would measure it.

I write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate. — I write for no other purpose than to add to the **beauty** that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate.

Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the depths of time.

The word is too weak. There is no word in the language strong enough to describe my feelings.

“The grapes on a score of rolling hills are red with autumn flame. Across Sonoma Mountain wisps of sea fog are stealing. The afternoon sun smoulders in the drowsy sky. I have everything to make me glad I am alive. I am filled with dreams and mysteries. I am all sun and air and sparkle. I am vitalized, organic.”
Jack London