45 Jack London Quotes about Living Life

Last updated on Jan 11th, 2023

45 Jack London Quotes about Living Life

Jack London (born January 12, 1876, San Francisco, California, U.S. – died November 22, 1916, Glen Ellen, California, U.S.), pseudonym of John Griffith Chaney, was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist.

London was a prolific writer, producing short stories, novels, and essays. Most famous for the adventure novels The Call of the Wild and White Fang, his other notable works include The People of the Abyss (1903), The Sea-Wolf (1904), The Iron Heel (1908), Martin Eden (1909), and Burning Daylight (1910).

In addition to writing, London was a vocal advocate of animal rights, workers’ rights, and socialism. As a member of the Socialist Party of America, he ran for mayor of Oakland in 1901.

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. - Jack London Quotes
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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.Jack London's Credo, The Bulletin, San Francisco, California (December 2, 1916)

Don't loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club. - Jack London Quotes
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Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club.Getting Into Print (The Editor Magazine, 1903)

One cannot violate the promptings of one's nature without having that nature recoil upon itself. - Jack London (White Fang Quotes)
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One cannot violate the promptings of one’s nature without having that nature recoil upon itself.White Fang (1906), Part IV. The Superior Gods, Chapter I. The Enemy of his Kind, Page 188

Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the depths of Time. - Jack London (The Call of the Wild Quotes)
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Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the depths of Time.The Call of the Wild (1903), Chapter VI. For the Love of a Man, Page 167

To be able to forget means sanity. - Jack London (The Star Rover Quotes)
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To be able to forget means sanity.The Star Rover (1915), Chapter VI, Page 40

Intelligent men are cruel. Stupid men are monstrously cruel. - Jack London (The Star Rover Quotes)
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Intelligent men are cruel. Stupid men are monstrously cruel.The Star Rover (1915), Chapter II, Page 10

Limited minds can recognize limitations only in others. - Jack London (Martin Eden Quotes)
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Limited minds can recognize limitations only in others.Martin Eden (1909), Chapter VIII, Page 73

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. - Jack London (The Road Quotes)
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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.The Road (1907), Chapter I. Confession, Page 5

Life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do. - Jack London (White Fang Quotes)
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Life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.White Fang (1906), Part II. Born of the Wild, Chapter IV. The Wall of the World, Page 93

Age is never so old as youth would measure it. - Jack London (The Wit of Porportuk Quotes)
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Age is never so old as youth would measure it.Lost Face (1910), Story VII. The Wit of Porportuk, Page 235

As one grows weaker one is less susceptible to suffering. There is less hurt because there is less to hurt. - Jack London (The Star Rover Quotes)
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As one grows weaker one is less susceptible to suffering. There is less hurt because there is less to hurt.The Star Rover (1915), Chapter VIII, Page 62

A man with a club was a lawgiver. - Jack London (The Call of the Wild Quotes)
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A man with a club was a lawgiver.The Call of the Wild (1903), Chapter I. Into the Primitive, Page 33

The aim of life was meat. Life itself was meat. Life lived on life. There were the eaters and the eaten. The law was: EAT OR BE EATEN. - Jack London (White Fang Quotes)
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The aim of life was meat. Life itself was meat. Life lived on life. There were the eaters and the eaten. The law was: EAT OR BE EATEN.White Fang (1906), Part II. Born of the Wild, Chapter V. The Law of Meat, Page 107

I am I, and I won't subordinate my taste to the unanimous judgment of mankind. - Jack London (Martin Eden Quotes)
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I am I, and I won’t subordinate my taste to the unanimous judgment of mankind.Martin Eden (1909), Chapter XXIV, Page 206

Too much is written by the men who can't write about the men who do write. - Jack London (Martin Eden Quotes)
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Too much is written by the men who can’t write about the men who do write.Martin Eden (1909), Chapter XXXII, Page 285

Socialism, when the last word is said, is merely a new economic and political system whereby more men can get food to eat. - Jack London (The Human Drift Quotes)
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Socialism, when the last word is said, is merely a new economic and political system whereby more men can get food to eat.The Human Drift (1917), Page 19

The game of life is good, though all of life may be hurt, and though all lives lose the game in the end. - Jack London (John Barleycorn Quotes)
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The game of life is good, though all of life may be hurt, and though all lives lose the game in the end.John Barleycorn (1913), Chapter XXXV, Page 306

The desire is a pain which seeks easement through possession. - Jack London (The Kempton-Wace Letters Quotes)
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The desire is a pain which seeks easement through possession.The Kempton-Wace Letters (1903), Chapter XX. From Herbert Wace to Dane Kempton, Page 142

Love is the sum of all the arts, as it is the reason for their existence. - Jack London (The Valley of the Moon Quotes)
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Love is the sum of all the arts, as it is the reason for their existence.The Valley of the Moon (1913), Book II, Chapter III, Page 143

The law is a lie, and through it men lie most shamelessly. - Jack London (The People of the Abyss Quotes)
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The law is a lie, and through it men lie most shamelessly.The People of the Abyss (1903), Chapter XXII. Suicide, Page 267

If cash comes with fame, come fame; if cash comes without fame, come cash. - Jack London Quotes
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If cash comes with fame, come fame; if cash comes without fame, come cash.Letter to Cloudesley Johns (November 21, 1899)

Do you know the only value life has is what life puts on itself? - Jack London (The Sea-Wolf Quotes)
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Do you know the only value life has is what life puts on itself?The Sea-Wolf (1904), Chapter VI, Page 69

Strength is an empty shell. - Jack London (The Iron Heel Quotes)
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Strength is an empty shell.The Iron Heel (1908), Chapter IX. The Mathematics of a Dream, Page 155

The only way to know life is by not ignoring life. - Jack London Quotes
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The only way to know life is by not ignoring life.Letter to Joan London (August 25, 1915)

Alcohol tells truth, but its truth is not normal. - Jack London (John Barleycorn Quotes)
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Alcohol tells truth, but its truth is not normal.John Barleycorn (1913), Chapter XXXV, Page 305

Some sorts of truth are truer than others. - Jack London (John Barleycorn Quotes)
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Some sorts of truth are truer than others.John Barleycorn (1913), Chapter XXXV, Page 305

In a saturated population life is always cheap. - Jack London (The Human Drift Quotes)
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In a saturated population life is always cheap.The Human Drift (1917), Page 19

Why, if there is anything in supply and demand, life is the cheapest thing in the world. - Jack London (The Sea-Wolf Quotes)
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Why, if there is anything in supply and demand, life is the cheapest thing in the world.The Sea-Wolf (1904), Chapter VI, Page 68

Truth is not merely the best policy. It is the only policy. - Jack London Quotes
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Truth is not merely the best policy. It is the only policy.Letter to Joan London (September 5, 1913)

Only the unsatisfied do things. The satisfied do nothing. Unsatisfaction is the stimulus to achievement. Satisfaction is destruction and leads down to the chamber of death. - Jack London Quotes
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Only the unsatisfied do things. The satisfied do nothing. Unsatisfaction is the stimulus to achievement. Satisfaction is destruction and leads down to the chamber of death.

The men who act without thinking, and the men who both think and act, are the ones who mould the world. The man who thinks and does not act never moulds the world. - Jack London Quotes
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The men who act without thinking, and the men who both think and act, are the ones who mould the world. The man who thinks and does not act never moulds the world.Letter to Philo M. Buck, Jr. (July 19, 1913)

The greatest of the arts is the conquering of men. - Jack London (The Valley of the Moon Quotes)
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The greatest of the arts is the conquering of men.The Valley of the Moon (1913), Book II, Chapter III, Page 143

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. - Jack London Quotes
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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.Letter to Max E. Feckler (October 26, 1914)

To be afraid is to be healthy. Fear of death makes for life. - Jack London (John Barleycorn Quotes)
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To be afraid is to be healthy. Fear of death makes for life.John Barleycorn (1913), Chapter XXXVI, Page 314

Humor is the hardest to write, easiest to sell, and best rewarded. - Jack London Quotes
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Humor is the hardest to write, easiest to sell, and best rewarded.Getting Into Print (The Editor Magazine, 1903)

A million years ago, the cave man, without tools, with small brain, and with nothing but the strength of his body, managed to feed his wife and children, so that through him the race survived. You on the other hand, armed with all the modern means of production, multiplying the productive capacity of the cave man a million times - you are incompetents and muddlers, you are unable to secure to millions even the paltry amount of bread that would sustain their physical life. You have mismanaged the world, and it shall be taken from you! - Jack London Quotes
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A million years ago, the cave man, without tools, with small brain, and with nothing but the strength of his body, managed to feed his wife and children, so that through him the race survived. You on the other hand, armed with all the modern means of production, multiplying the productive capacity of the cave man a million times – you are incompetents and muddlers, you are unable to secure to millions even the paltry amount of bread that would sustain their physical life. You have mismanaged the world, and it shall be taken from you!Speech to a gathering of wealthy New Yorkers during his unsuccessful mayoral campaign (1900)

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 (The Kempton-Wace Letters Quotes)
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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.The Kempton-Wace Letters (1903), Chapter XX. From Herbert Wace to Dane Kempton, Page 142

A good soldier is a blind, heartless, soulless, murderous machine. He is not a man. His is not a brute, for brutes kill only in self defense. All that is human in him, all that is divine in him, all that constitutes the man has been sworn away when he took the enlistment roll. His mind, his conscience, aye, his very soul, are in the keeping of his officer. No man can fall lower than a soldier-it is a depth beneath which we cannot go. - Jack London Quotes
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A good soldier is a blind, heartless, soulless, murderous machine. He is not a man. His is not a brute, for brutes kill only in self defense. All that is human in him, all that is divine in him, all that constitutes the man has been sworn away when he took the enlistment roll. His mind, his conscience, aye, his very soul, are in the keeping of his officer. No man can fall lower than a soldier-it is a depth beneath which we cannot go.Letter to Lieutenant James D. Willson (August 5, 1916)

Life is a strange thing. Why this longing for life? It is a game which no man wins. To live is to toil hard and to suffer sore, till old age creeps heavily upon us and we throw down our hands on the cold ashes of dead fires. It is hard to live. In pain the babe sucks his first breath, in pain the old man gasps his last, and all his days are full of trouble and sorrow; yet he goes down to the open arms of death, stumbling, falling, with head turned backward, fighting to the last. And death is kind. It is only life and the things of life that hurt. Yet we love life and we hate death. It is very strange. - Jack London (Grit of Women Quotes)
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Life is a strange thing. Why this longing for life? It is a game which no man wins. To live is to toil hard and to suffer sore, till old age creeps heavily upon us and we throw down our hands on the cold ashes of dead fires. It is hard to live. In pain the babe sucks his first breath, in pain the old man gasps his last, and all his days are full of trouble and sorrow; yet he goes down to the open arms of death, stumbling, falling, with head turned backward, fighting to the last. And death is kind. It is only life and the things of life that hurt. Yet we love life and we hate death. It is very strange.Grit of Women (August 1900)

The Wild still lingered in him and the wolf in him merely slept. - Jack London (White Fang Quotes)
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The Wild still lingered in him and the wolf in him merely slept.White Fang (1906), Part V. The Tame, Chapter IV. The Call of Kind, Page 305

He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars. - Jack London (The Call of the Wild Quotes)
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He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars.The Call of the Wild (1903), Chapter III. The Dominant Primordial Beast, Page 91

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 (The Call of the Wild Quotes)
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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.The Call of the Wild (1903), Chapter III. The Dominant Primordial Beast, Page 91

A man without courage is to me the most despicable thing under the sun, a travesty on the whole scheme of creation. - Jack London Quotes
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A man without courage is to me the most despicable thing under the sun, a travesty on the whole scheme of creation.Letter to Cloudesley Johns (April 30, 1899)

Life is very short... One should have no time to dally. - Jack London Quotes
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Life is very short… One should have no time to dally.Letter to Anna Strunsky (December 21, 1899)

White Fang knew the law well: to oppress the weak and obey the strong. - Jack London (White Fang Quotes)
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White Fang knew the law well: to oppress the weak and obey the strong.White Fang (1906), Part III. The Gods of the Wild, Chapter V. The Covenant, Page 163

No Source

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Show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past.No source

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The most beautiful stories always start with wreckage.No source

Misattributed

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Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.Josh Billings (More info)