Really? Can I pick only one? I’m going to bend the rules a tad and offer up two, if only because one has morphed into the other. No sense stressing over such a decision.
My favorite quote several decades ago, in about the first half of my life is:
“…To thine own self be true.” — Shakespeare
This sentiment was the deal breaker Godsend when making some monumental life decisions that I could have lived to regret if I wasn’t true to my own self.
But now, my favorite life saving quote for what I’ll deem the second half of my life is:
“Don’t jump in if you don’t want to jump out.” — Anonymous
This underscores the importance of boundaries, to not become overloaded and that it’s okay to say, “No.” Too often (in the first half of my life) I would go along to get along then regret doing so.
In essence, both of these quotes save me from getting involved in things I don’t really want to be involved in. 🙂
wRighTing My Life 
I am surprised no one added to this thread in the comments.
In every book I read there is one single moment that screams out to be read over and over again – and treasured. I am making my own a list.
Here are my two (so hard to prioritise)
1.
“Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all.”
Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (1920-2012)
1.5
“A [] bookÂseller orders a book to be written, just as a manufacturer gives directions for weaving a piece of cloth; and unhappily there are authors to be found, whose necessities oblige them to sell their labors to these dealers, like work-men for hire; hence arise these insipid panegyrics, and defamatory libels, with which the public is overrun, and is one of the most shameful vices of the age.
Never did history stand more in need of authentic vouchers, than at this time, when so infamous a traffic is made of falsehood.”
Voltaire in Author’s Preface to “The History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great” (1759)
(I really only found that while reading Robert K Massie’s “Peter the Great: His Life and World”)
2.
“So perhaps happiness is synchronising one’s personal delusions of meaning with the prevailing collective delusions. As long as my personal narrative is in line with the narratives of the people around me, I can convince myself that my life is meaningful, and find happiness in that conviction.”
Yuval Noah Harari in “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”
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