Who said “The purpose of life...is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out…”?

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Eleanor Roosevelt. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceYou Learn by Living (1960), Foreword (January 1960)

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“The purpose of life...is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
VerifiedYou Learn by Living (1960), Foreword (January 1960) · evidenceLife and Living
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Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: You Learn by Living (1960), Foreword (January 1960).

APA

Roosevelt, E. (n.d.). The purpose of life...is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/26817-the-purpose-of-life-is-to-live-it/

MLA

Roosevelt, Eleanor. “The purpose of life...is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/26817-the-purpose-of-life-is-to-live-it/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Roosevelt, Eleanor. “The purpose of life...is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/26817-the-purpose-of-life-is-to-live-it/.

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More quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt

“It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”
VerifiedVoice of America broadcast (11 November 1951) · evidenceDetails & citeBelief
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“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”
VerifiedPreface (December 1960) to The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt (1961), p. xix · evidenceDetails & citeLife and Living
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“I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.”
VerifiedFrom article "In Defense of Curiosity" appearing in The Saturday Evening Post 208 (August 24, 1935); 8-9, 64-66. · evidenceDetails & citeCuriosity
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All 33 Eleanor Roosevelt quotes →