Simple Living Quotes

I was rich, for there was nothing else that I needed or wanted. ~ Mark Warren

Potatoes have much more staying power than caviar. ~ Mark Helprin

To live without that enchantment of beauty is to interpret frugality and simple living with a puritan literalism ~ John Lane

The more things we accumulate, the more cluttered our lives become, and the more stressed we feel as we are compelled to think about them. Life is about people not about things. ~ Natalie Vellacott

Happiness blooms naturally in the hearts of those who are inwardly free. It flows spontaneously, like a mountain spring after April showers, in minds that are contented with simple living. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda

Every aspect of our lives is, in a sense, a vote for the kind of world we want to live in. ~ Frances Moore Lappe

In the end, what affects your life most deeply are things too simple to talk about. ~ Nell Blaine

We can make ourselves whole only by accepting our partiality, by living within our limits, by being humans not by trying to be gods. ~ Wendell Berry

Simple living is about being authentic and living an examined life and if you've thought about the values you want to live by, be confident and stick with them no matter what others around you are doing. ~ Rhonda Hetzel

It is surprising how many great men and women a small house will contain. I have had twenty-five or thirty souls, with their bodies, at once under my roof, and yet we often parted without being aware that we had come very near to one another. ~ Henry David Thoreau

The simple things in life are the greatest gifts. ~ Bryant McGill

When the living gets unburdened with needs and desires, the life becomes simple and easy to carry. ~ Shashi

Many of them had a better time than they ever had in their lives because they were discovering the new freedom - the less you need, the freer you become. ~ E.F. Schumacher

Why do you have to develop? If economic growth rises from 5% to 10%, is happiness going to double? What's wrong with a growth rate of 0%? Isn't this a rather stable kind of economics? Could there be anything better than living simply and taking it easy? ~ Masanobu Fukuoka

A simple life is its own reward. ~ George Santayana

Don't make your life complicated. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Do few things but do them well, simple joys are holy. ~ Francis Of Assisi

The greatest life is the joy of contentment. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

The point of simple living, for me has got to be:
A soft place to land
A wide margin of error
Room to breathe
Lots of places to find baseline happiness in each and every day ~ Leo Babauta

Paying attention at every moment, forms a new relationship to time. In some magical way, by slowing down, you become more efficient, productive, and energetic, focusing without distraction directly on the task in front of you. Not only do you become immersed in the moment, you become that moment. ~ Michael Ray

A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest. ~ Albert Einstein

I go about looking at horses and cattle. They eat grass, make love, work when they have to, bear their young. I am sick with envy of them. ~ Sherwood Anderson

To be contemplative we must remove the clutter from our lives, surround ourselves with beauty, and consciously, relentlessly, persistently, give clutter away until the tiny world for which we ourselves are responsible begins to reflect the raw beauty that is God. ~ Joan D. Chittister

I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind. ~ Albert Einstein

Home is an invention on which no one has yet improved. ~ Ann Douglas

If you're not using the stuff in your home, get rid of it. You're not going to start using it more by shoving it in a closet somewhere. ~ Joshua Becker

Life truly is a journey, and the less baggage we carry the easier the ride. ~ Wally Amos

Happiness is a great contentment. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I could smell an arrogance,
it was my cheap fragrance. ~ Toba Beta

Make art and live simply. ~ Shawn Lukas

Even if through simple living and rigorous recycling you stopped your own average Americans annual one ton of garbage production, your per capita share of the industrial waste produced in the US is still almost twenty-six tons. That's thirty-seven times as much waste as you were able to save by eliminating a full 100 percent of your personal waste. Industrialism itself is what has to stop. ~ Derrick Jensen

If I should sell both my forenoons and afternoons to society, as most appear to do, I am sure that for me there would be nothing left worth living for. I trust that I shall never thus sell my birthright for a mess of pottage. I wish to suggest that a man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Let me wake up next to you, have coffee in the morning and wander through the city with your hand in mine, and I'll be happy for the rest of my fucked up little life. ~ Charlotte Eriksson

Luxury Living Low Thinking
Simple Living High Thinking ~ Baba Tunde Ojo-Olubiyo

The troubles of modern life come from being divorced from nature. ~ Isaac Asimov

People, the common people, can genuinely see what I'm doing. Moreover, people know that I have adopted four principles in living my life: simple living, punctuality, hard work and prudence. These are the four principles I adopted at the very beginning and continue to use until now. People see this and give me donations. ~ Abdul Sattar Edhi

There is no formula. We all must become spirited inventors. There's no single answer - not even a single starting point. Even the 'teachers' ... don't offer us the answer. They do offer us approaches, ways of thinking, possibilities we can adapt, and hope that might generate in us wholly new ideas. ~ Frances Moore Lappe

I wish I were either rich enough or poor enough to do a lot of things that are impossible in my present comfortable circumstances. ~ Don Herold

The simplicity that all this presupposes is not easy to attain. I find that my life constantly threatens to become complex and divisive. A life of prayer is basically a very simple life. This simplicity, however, is the result of asceticism and effort: it is not a spontaneous simplicity. ~ Thomas Merton

The cake had been done by a lady friend of Mary's. It was simpler than it would have been had she been given more time; but I was finding more and more beauty in simplicity. ~ Janette Oke

One can furnish a room very luxuriously by taking out furniture rather than putting it in. ~ Francis Jourdain

All great men had simple beginnings. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail. ~ Henry David Thoreau

If you have time, a lot of things are enjoyable. Making this type of woodblock, or collecting the wood for the fire, or even cleaning things - it's all enjoyable and satisfying if you give yourself time - Nakamura. ~ Andy Couturier

Living simply means concentrating on what's important in light of eternity. And not taking the rest of life too seriously. ~ Annie Chapman

Well, all I need is the air I breathe and a place to rest my head. ~ Hal Leonard Publishing Company

The new morality does not consist in saving but in expanding consumption. ~ Simon N. Patten

Too many commercials, too many lies Too many celebrities I don't recognize Too many brand names, too many magazines I got so much sensation, I can't feel a thing Simple living Got to get to simple living Simple living Simple ... simply living Too many things we just throw away If we put it in the garbage, we're gonna eat it someday We turn on the lights and a river dies We turn the TV on to see an eagle fly ~ Fred Small

Things that don't get better, get worse. ~ Ellen Stern

Freedom is the greatest fruit of self sufficiency. ~ Epicurus

In the span of my own lifetime I observed such wondrous progress in plant evolution that I look forward optimistically to a healthy, happy world as soon as its children are taught the principles of simple and rational living. ~ Luther Burbank

Simplicity is the beauty of souls. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Any 'Christians' who take for themselves any more than the plain necessaries of life, live in an open habitual denial of the Lord. They have gained riches and hell-fire. ~ John Wesley

Liberating oneself from the addiction of consumerism and careerism promotes inner peace. ~ David Shi

I am strongly drawn to the simple life and am often oppressed by the feeling that I am engrossing an unnecessary amount of the labour of my fellow men. I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort, based on force. I also consider that plain living is good for everybody, physically and mentally. ~ Albert Einstein

My new deliberate and slower pace has created a higher quality in my experiences. ~ Lisa J. Shultz

Sometimes simplicity and elegance are indistinguishable from each other. ~ Amit Kalantri

If you wish to find a needle in a haystack, light a match. ~ Jared Alan Brock

Material blessings, when they pay beyond the category of need, are weirdly fruitful of headache. ~ Philip Wylie

Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement; a sanded floor and whitewashed walls and the green trees, and flowery meads, and living waters outside; or a grimy palace amid the same with a regiment of housemaids always working to smear the dirt together so that it may be unnoticed; which, think you, is the most refined, the most fit for a gentleman of those two dwellings? ~ William Morris

When we black people commit ourselves to living simply as a political action, as a way of breaking the stress caused by unrelenting hedonistic desire for material objects that are not needed for survival, or essential to well-being, we will not be talking about ebonics. We will be out in the streets demanding that the public schools have enough teachers so that all kids, cross color, can read and write in standard English and in Spanish too. ~ Bell Hooks

A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life. ~ Winston Churchill

What we really need is to realize how little we really need. ~ Ashleigh Brilliant

Embody the three harmonies: within; with others; and with nature. ~ Robert Gilman

The easiest way to combat greed is by recognizing the value of contentment and simplicity. ~ Donald L. Hicks

Forget about the money for a moment. Lose yourself in the wilderness, listen to the music of the softly blowing winds, feel the rain on your bare skin, let the mountains take the burden off your shoulders. ~ Kiran Bisht

We must redefine the American Dream before we can rebuild the infrastructure on which it is based. ~ Paolo Soleri

According to history, quite a few times simple man turned out to be the significant man. ~ Amit Kalantri

I believe we would be happier to have a personal revolution in our individual lives and go back to simpler living and more direct thinking. ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

We must not only aim to make a living but to live life. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest. ~ Thomas Moore

People no longer live by sun and moon, by wind and stars, but by some slyly contrived conventions known as clocks and calendars. ~ Matthew Goldman

My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions but in the fewness of my wants. ~ Joseph Brotherton

Living aboard one's sailboat and having neither house nor vehicle nor job, and needing none, would be hubris - the most arrogant presumption - and therefore suitable punishable by the gods. One would be drowned by Poseidon early on and die extremely happy. ~ Matthew Goldman

When simple is more than enough, you will feel happy more than enough! ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Escape from complicated life! Take refuge in simple life! You will find three treasures there: Healthy body, peaceful mind and a life away from ambitious fools! ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

In a world where nearly one billion people live near the edge of physical survival the relevance of intentional simplicity by the more affluent people of the world cannot be over estimated. ~ Duane Elgin

I would rather live a joyful simple life, doing what I love, than to be unhappy and rich. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

This is the beautiful secret of minimalism: It may seem like it's about stuff, but once you've cut through the clutter and adopted a new frame of mind, you learn that it's barely about 'the stuff' at all. ~ Erica Layne

Play life on hard. Easy might be safer but where is the fun in that? ~ Neila Rey

ANYAELE SAM CHIYSON'S LAW OF PASSION: You must have a longing to succeed in accordance with your desires: Your intense, high-wrought emotion that compels you to action must be high-powered to get you fervent and excited to do what is required by the terms so as to make your desires a success. Get ready to follow through your innovations. Create your structures! Do things right to a turn and ardently carry your strategies to a successful completion and accomplish your desires. ~ Anyaele Sam Chiyson

If I buy a game on Steam and I'm running it on Windows, I can go to one of the Steam machines and already have the game. So you benefit as a developer; you benefit as a consumer in having the PC experience extended in the living room. ~ Gabe Newell

This is what people who have never wanted to die don't understand: the worst thing for those of us who do is feeling like we have to live when we don't want to. That we have to be when we don't want to, exist where we don't want to. What we want is nothingness, numbness, because that has to be better than the life of quiet desperation we're living. Mara's hand is in my hair as I lean my head back against the cracked leather seat, eyes closed, mind ruminating. The others…they weren't missing what I'm missing, is the thing. They didn't exist because they had no other choice. They didn't see the world through a lens in which every scene contains a door marked exit, a door I'm forever unable to open. They lived because they wanted to. Until the end, when something, or someone, made them stop wanting. And I need to find out what. ~ Michelle Hodkin

We interact with one another as individuals responding to a complex haze of factors: professional responsibilities, personal likes and dislikes, ambition, jealousy, self-interest, and, in at least some instances, genuine altruism. Living in the here and now, we are awash with sensations of the present, memories of the past, and expectations and fears for the future. Our actions are not determined by any one cause; they are the fulfillment of who we are at that particular moment. After that moment passes, we continue to evolve, to change, and our memories of that moment inevitably change with us as we live with the consequences of our past actions, consequences we were unaware of at the time. ~ Nathaniel Philbrick

Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life. They're people who don't give a hang what the Joneses do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought - sometimes it isn't much, either. ~ Walt Disney Company

If a song is a living, breathing entity, you might think of the tempo as its gait - the rate at which it walks by - or its pulse - the rate at which the heart of the song is beating. ~ Daniel J. Levitin

Reconciliation is a special budget procedure to change entitlement and tax laws. It cannot be filibustered and requires only a simple majority in the Senate to be passed. It is primarily intended for deficit and mandatory spending reduction. ~ Jeff Miller

You are free only when you care for nobody in the world. But if you stop caring, life isn't worth living. ~ Martha Albrand

Today, however, we are having a hard time living because we are so bent on outwitting death. ~ Simone De Beauvoir

Like madness is the glory of this life. ~ William Shakespeare

The world is come upon me, I used to keep it a long way off, But now I have been run over and I am in the hands of the hospital staff. ~ Stevie Smith

You have no idea what you're saying." "I know," Shallan said. "I'm ignorant. There's a simple cure for that." She ~ Brandon Sanderson

I just didn't understand. What should I do? What did I want to do? What was I thinking...? It didn't really matter if she died. That's what I thought. It's all the same in the end. The only difference is whether death comes sooner or later. Even if I do keep living, there will be only more suffering and more hardship. There's no meaning to it. There's no meaning to life. It would be better to die. This was a thoroughly logical conclusion that no one could refute. At least, I couldn't refute it. In fact, I doubt that anyone was less suited to the role of convincing someone else to give up on suicide than I was. ~ Tatsuhiko Takimoto

The simple fact is that all magick is psychological and subjective. Real magick is poetic and imaginary. ~ Jean De Cabalis

The road of righteousness is narrow that leads to life. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I'm truly blessed with great genes. I've never done anything drastic in my life, and I can proudly say I haven't tried any of those crazy fad diets, either. I believe in eating right and living healthy. Plus, I love going to the gym, and I enjoy yoga because it streamlines your body. ~ Malaika Arora Khan

You may not have the control to lengthen your life, but you can do much to deepen it. ~ Frank Sonnenberg

Being healthy means a wholeness in the living of one's life -- a dynamic and constantly changing balance that acknowledges the soundness of our physical state, the wholesomeness of lifestyle, the values that define our behavior, our intimate and collective relationships, the meaning and purpose of our work in the world, and the spiritual dimension of our existence. --William B. Stewart ~ William B. Stewart

There are two kinds of teachers in the world: there are teachers who play school and teachers who teach school, and Miss Daggerty and Mrs. Sera and especially Mrs. Gosk are the kinds of teachers that teach school. They talk to their kids in their regular voices and say things that they would say in their own living rooms. Their bulletin boards are always a little raggedy, and their desks are always a little messy, and their libraries are always a little out of order, but kids love them because they talk about real things with real voices and they always tell the truth. This is why Max loves Mrs. Gosk. She never pretends to be a teacher. She is just herself, and it makes Max relax a little. There is nothing to figure out. ~ Matthew Dicks

As I stand behind him, it occurs to me just how much trust we put in other people. Complete strangers, friends. Everybody. Dalton's just sitting there, relaxed, trusting that I'm not going to lose my temper and stab him in the back of the neck with a fork. Every time we get into a car, we trust everybody else on the road. Every time we walk on the sidewalk, we put our lives in other people's hands. We'd never even leave the house if we actually thought about how little control we have over living and dying. ~ Coert Voorhees