Echoes

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

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

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.

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

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.

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

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.

Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have limits.

What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

Comparison is the thief of joy.

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.

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

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.

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