A
man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot
be untied; he must know how to disengage what is essential
from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything
cannot be equally considered; in a word, he must be
able to simplify his duties, his business and his life.
-- Henri Frederic Amiel
“The
simplest things are often the truest.”
-- Richard Bach
*
It
is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according
to what he is, not according to what he has.
-- Henry Ward Beecher |
|
*
We,
who have so much, must do more to help those in
need. And most of all, we must live simply, so that
others may simply live.
-- Ed Begley, Jr. |
|
|
*
We do need a 'new economy,' but one that is founded
on thrift and care, on saving and conserving,
not on excess and waste. An economy based on waste
is inherently and hopelessly violent, and war
is its inevitable by-product. We need a peaceable
economy."
~ Wendell
Berry
So,
friends, every day do something that won't compute.
Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone
who does not deserve it. Denounce the government
and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
~ Wendell
Berry
|
*
I relish simplicity as an all-comprehensive value.
-- Ela Bhatt
|
|
Simplicity
is the essence of happiness.
-- Cedric Bledsoe
The
way to happy-- keep your heart free from hate,
your mind free from worry, live simply, expect little,
give much.
-- Carol Borges
My
riches consist not in the extent of my possessions but
in the fewness of my wants.
-- J. Botherton
*
The consumption society has made us feel that
happiness lies in having things, and has failed
to teach us the happiness of not having things.
--
Elise Boulding
Frugality
is one of the most beautiful and joyful words
in the English language, and yet one that we are
culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying.
The consumption society has made us feel that
happiness lies in having things, and has failed
to teach us the happiness of not having things.
--
Elise Boulding
|
|
Enjoy
the little things, for one day you may look back and
realize they were the big things.
-- Robert Brault
The
best things in life aren't things.
-- Art Buchwald
|
*
To
find the universal elements enough; to find the
air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed
by a morning walk or an evening saunter ... to
be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated
over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring—these
are some of the rewards of the simple life.
~
John Burroughs
|
To
live content with small means; to seek elegance rather
than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to
be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich;
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with
open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly,
talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word,
to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow
up through the common--this is my symphony.
-- William Henry Channing
The
happiest heart that ever beat Was in some quiet breast
That found the common daylight sweet, And left to Heaven
the rest.
-- John V. Cheney
“Simplicity
is the final achievement. After one has played a vast
quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that
emerges as the crowning reward of art.”
-- Frederic Chopin
The
art of contentment is the recognition that the most
satisfying and the most dependably refreshing experiences
of life lie not in great things but in little. The rarity
of happiness among those who achieved much is evidence
that achievement is not in itself the assurance of a
happy life. The great, like the humble, may have to
find their satisfaction in the same plain things.
-- Edgar A. Collard
Life
is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
-- Confucius
It
all depends on whether you have things, or they have
you.
-- Robert A. Cook