At a recent Jewish Dinner last week, the mayor of New York City, Bill De Blasio chose to end off his speech with a quote from Rebbe Nachman. The quote can be found a the 8:18 mark of this video:
Although, we could not find a source for the exact wording of the Mayor’s quote, Rebbe Nachman says in lesson #4:8 of Likutey Moharan II,
“The older a person gets, with each additional day of his life that passes he must ensure that he gains additional light of holiness and daat (unitive Knowledge and awareness of God.) This is as our Sages, of blessed memory, taught: Elderly Torah sages-the older they get, the more settled their mind becomes (Kinnim 3:6). With each passing day we have to increase our holiness and daat, as it is written “and the Lord called the light ‘Day'” (Genesis 1:5)-that each day has to radiate more.”
Additionally, Reb Shmuel Isaac, the Rebbe’s close disciple, used to say, “If I say Shma today the same way I said it yesterday, then I have no more reason to live!”
