Echoes

He is richest who is content with the least, for contentment is the wealth of nature.

If you wish to make Pythocles wealthy, don't give him more money; rather, reduce his desires.

He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.

A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.

It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who hankers after more.

I am grateful for what I am & have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite — only a sense of existence. Well, anything for variety. I am ready to try this for the next 1000 years, & exhaust it. How sweet to think of! My extremities well charred, and my intellectual part too, so that there is no danger of worm or rot for a long while. My breath is sweet to me. O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my bank can drain it — for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment.

If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich.

With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow — I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud.

That is not riches, which may be lost; virtue is our true good and the true reward of its possessor. That cannot be lost; that never deserts us, but when life leaves us. As to property and external riches, hold them with trembling; they often leave their possessor in contempt, and mocked at for having lost them.

In ease of body and peace of mind, all the different ranks of life are nearly upon a level, and the beggar, who suns himself by the side of the highway, possesses that security which kings are fighting for.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth.

Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth.

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me.

Faith is the best wealth for a man in this world. Righteousness when well practised brings happiness. Truth is the sweetest of flavours. They say the life of one living by wisdom is the best.

He who is not satisfied with a little is satisfied with nothing.

With parsimony a little is sufficient; without it nothing is sufficient; but frugality makes a poor man rich.

He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing.

I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.

The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity. (15)

Nothing is sufficient for the person who finds sufficiency too little.

If you wish to have leisure for your mind, either be a poor man, or resemble a poor man. Study cannot be helpful unless you take pains to live simply; and living simply is voluntary poverty.

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.

Virtue is the root; wealth is the result.

You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that's all even the gods can ask of you.