Echoes

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.

Comparison is the thief of joy.

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.

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

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.

There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment. Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it were somewhere else.

When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.

It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time.

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

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.

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.

After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on — have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear — what remains? Nature remains.

Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.

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

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.