Quotes on Contentment

"Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty." ~ Socrates (469 - 399 BC)

"I love to go and see all the things I am happy without." ~ Socrates

"As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are.  Otherwise you will miss most of your life." ~ Buddha

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have." ~ Frederick Keonig (1774 - 1833)

"Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives." ~ Maya Angelou (b. 1928)

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." ~ Epicurus (341 - 270 BC)

"If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires." ~ Epicurus

"Money often costs too much." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

"Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire." ~ Epictetus (ca. 55 - ca. 135 BC)

"The world is so constructed, that if you wish to enjoy its pleasures, you also must endure its pains." ~ Swami Brahmananda (1862 - 1922)

"Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest." ~ William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

"Moderation, which consists in indifference about little things, and in a prudent and well-proportioned zeal about things of importance, can proceed from nothing but true knowledge, which has its foundation in self-acquaintance." ~ Plato (428 - 348 BC)

"What is important in life is life, and not the result of life." ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

"There is no calamity greater than lavish desires.  There is no greater guilt than discontent.  And there is no greater disaster than greed." ~ Lau Tzu (circa 600BC)

"Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy." ~ Lao Tzu

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." ~ Lao Tzu

"Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." ~ Lau Tzu

"There is more happiness in doing one's own [path] without excellence than in doing another's [path] well." ~ The Bhagavad Gita

"Slow down and the thing you are chasing will come around and catch you." ~ Zen saying

"People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

"My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it." ~ Zhuangzi (370 - 301 BC)

"The wise man knows that it is better to sit on the banks of a remote mountain stream than to be emperor of the whole world." ~ Zhuangzi

"The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of all suffering." ~ Ram Dass (b. 1931)

"Happiness is your nature.  It is not wrong to desire it.  What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside." ~ Ramana Maharishi (1879-1950)

"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone." ~ Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are." ~ Chinese Proverb

"Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight." ~ Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." ~ Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) 

"A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety." ~ Aesop (620 - 560 BC)

"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop." ~ Ovid (43BC - 17AD)

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." ~ Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

"Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you will miss it. For success, like happiness, can not be pursued; and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see -- in the long run, I say! -- success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it." ~ Viktor Frankl (1905 - 1997)

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Comments

[Clint Stonebraker]

Thank you for sharing these quotes. As a parent, I cannot imagine looking into my daughter's eyes and experiencing anything less than pure unconditional love. For those who have children and are unable to find contentment, take a long hard look at what defines your life. Thank you.

[Kent @ The Financial Philosopher]

Clint:

As a father, I will add to your profound point by sharing that my two boys teach me about life every day.

With regard to contentment, they teach me that the present moment is everything and that there is happiness to be found in the smallest of things...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts...

Kent