Echoes

Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.

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

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

Be detached from desire your whole life long.

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

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

Fortunate is he who does not carry envy as a companion.

You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both.

To the quiet mind all things are possible.

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

Nowhere you can go is more peaceful — more free of interruptions — than your own soul.

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.

It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.

Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.

There are two kinds of pleasure: one consisting in a state of rest, in which both body and mind are undisturbed by any kind of pain; the other arising from an agreeable agitation of the senses, producing a correspondent emotion in the soul. It is upon the former of these that the enjoyment of life chiefly depends. Happiness may therefore be said to consist in bodily ease, and mental tranquility.

Accept everything just the way it is.

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.

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself.

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile? Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy. The source of a true smile is an awakened mind.

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

First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.

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