Quill / Moments / Quotes about simplicity
Quotes about simplicity
Thoreau is the name everyone reaches for, and Walden's first chapter gives a detailed account of what his cabin cost, down to the half-cent. He wanted to know how little a life required, and he did the sums.
Writers before him made a similar case with less carpentry. Seneca, one of the wealthiest men in Rome, praised plain living and was attacked for the contradiction in his own lifetime.
From the books
Checked word for word against public-domain editions.
If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
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1. It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
Let us live happily then, though we call nothing our own!
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Let us live happily then, though we call nothing our own! We shall be like the bright gods, feeding on happiness!
The things that are true, good, excellent, are simple and always alike, whatever their appearance may be.
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The things that are true, good, excellent, are simple and always alike, whatever their appearance may be. But the error that we blame is extremely manifold and varying; it is in conflict not only with the good and the true, but also with itself; it is self-contradictory. Thus it is that the words of blame in our literature must necessarily outnumber the words of praise.
Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only.
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… significant and vital experiences; you are compelled to deal with the material which yields the most sugar and the most starch. It is life near the bone where it is sweetest. You are defended from being a trifler. No man loses ever on a lower level by magnanimity on a higher. Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul.
Have I less than I hoped for? well, perhaps I hoped for more than I ought.
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… from them: yet there is a remedy at hand for both these grievances. Has he favoured our rival more than ourselves? then let us enjoy what we have without making any comparisons. A man will never be well off to whom it is a torture to see any one better off than himself. Have I less than I hoped for? well, perhaps I hoped for more than I ought. This it is against which we ought to be especially on our guard: from hence arises the most destructive anger, sparing nothing, not even the holiest. The Emperor Julius was not stabbed by so many enemies as by friends whose insatiable hopes he had not satisfied. He was willing …
The small truth has words that are clear; the great truth has great silence.
Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul.
Shall we always study to obtain more of these things, and not sometimes to be content with less?
A cucumber is bitter—Throw it away.—There are briers in the road—Turn aside from them.—This is enough.
Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage.
Simple and modest is the work of philosophy.
Keep by every means what is your own; do not desire what belongs to others.
Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.
How little is requisite to supply the necessities of nature?
We should earnestly desire but few things if we clearly knew what we desired.
By plucking her petals you do not gather the beauty of the flower.
Love your life, poor as it is.
Money never made any man rich; for the more he had, the more he still coveted.
Peace cannot be reached by the simple addition of pluses and elimination of minuses from life.
You should never fret about trifles.
We are loth to leave our possessions; and no man swims well with his luggage.
A great deal less would serve my turn well enough.
Is it not better to be modest than to be rich?
Make thyself all simplicity.
Nothing is sufficient for covetous desire, but Nature can be satisfied even with scant measure.
Common things are cheap, but common things are invariably the most valuable.
Without the rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar.
Everything good is on the highway.
Our life is frittered away by detail.
Every man’s life is sufficient.
Whether is it better to have much or enough?
Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends.
Neither let us envy those who are in high places: the heights which look lofty to us are steep and rugged.
The world is enlarged for us, not by new objects, but by finding more affinities and potencies in those we have.
Let me not pursue many paths to gather many things.
Why should we convert ourselves into show-men and appendages to our fine houses and our works of art?
Popular sayings
Widely repeated lines with no name attached, because nobody can honestly put one on them.
The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.
Good enough is good enough.
Pick your battles.
Most of what you worry about never happens.
Empty vessels make the most noise.
Silence is golden.
Half a loaf is better than none.
Live simply.
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