materialism - possessions
   

Live simply that others
may simply live.

Elizabeth Seton
   

Do you know the more I look into life, the more things it seems to me I can successfully lack--and continue to grow happier.  How many kinds of food I do not need, or cooks to
cook them, how much curious clothing or tailors to make it, how many books I have
never read, and pictures that are not worthwhile!  The farther I run, the more I feel like casting aside all such impediments--lest I fail to arrive at the far goal of my endeavor.

David Grayson

      

When one begins to practice simplicity, the ego is deprived of the very
strategy by which it sustains itself.  Nothing will deflate the ego more
effectively than to be recognized for what it is.  It lives by pretension.
It dies when the mask is torn away and the stark reality is exposed to
the gaze of others.  Simplicity also avails in braking the tyranny of things.
Ostentation, artificiality, ornamentation, pretentious style, luxury--all
require things.  One requires few things to be one's self, one's age,
and one's moral, intellectual, or spiritual stature.  What one is does
not depend on what one has.

Albert E. Day

  

When we are truly in this interior simplicity our whole appearance is franker,
more natural.  This true simplicity. . . makes us conscious of a certain openness,
gentleness, innocence, gaiety, and serenity.  O, how amiable this simplicity is!
Who will give it to me?  I leave all for this.  It is the pearl of the Gospel.

Francois Fenelon

   

The boy and girl going hand in hand through a meadow; the mother washing her baby;
the sweet simple things in life.  We have almost lost track of them.  On the one side,
we over-intellectualize everything; on the other hand, we are over-mechanized.
We can understand the danger of the atomic bomb, but the danger
of our misunderstanding the meaning of life is much more serious.

Edward Steichen
 

Simplicity is an exact medium between too little and too much.

Joshua Reynolds
   
 
 

Everything should be made as simple
as possible. . . but not simpler.

Albert Einstein
  

In character, in manners, in style, in all things
the supreme excellence is simplicity.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  

People must be able to cut
a knot, for everything cannot
be untied; they 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, they must be able to
simplify their duties, their
business, and their lives.

Henri Frederic Amiel

 

How many undervalue the power of simplicity!
But it is the real key to the heart.

William Wordsworth
  

  
I believe the art of living consists not so much in complicating
simple things as in simplifying things that are not.

François Hertel

 

Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.

Charles Dudley Warner
  
 

Simplicity, carried to an extreme, becomes elegance.

Jon Franklin

  

Living life fully doesn't mean having it all, going everywhere,
doing everything, and being all things to all people.
Many of us are beginning to see that too much is too much.

Elaine St. James
 

Year by year the complexities of this spinning world grow
more bewildering and so each year we need all the more
to seek peace and comfort in the joyful simplicities.

Woman's Home Companion (1935)

  

materialism - possessions

Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury--
to me these have always been contemptible.
I assume that a simple and unassuming manner of life
is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind.

Albert Einstein

 
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

Hans Hofmann

The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.

Khalil Gibran
  
 
Making the simple complicated is commonplace;
making the complicated simple, awesomely simple,
that's creativity.

Charles Mingus

  

It’s simple things, like a glowing sunset, the sound of a running stream
or the fresh smell in a meadow that cause us to pause and marvel
at the wonder of life, to contemplate its meaning and significance.
Who can hold an autumn leaf in their hand, or sift the warm white sand
on the beach, and not wonder at the Creator of it all?

Wendy Moore

  
 
You were trying to be simple for the sake of being simple.  I wonder if
true simplicity is ever anything but a by-product.  If we aim directly for it,
it eludes us; but if we are on fire with some great interest that absorbs
our lives to the uttermost, we forget ourselves into simplicity.
Everything falls into simple lines around us, like a worn garment.

David Grayson
  

In character, in manners, in style, in all things the supreme excellence is simplicity.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  

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If one's life is simple, contentment has to come.  Simplicity is extremely
important for happiness.  Having few desires, feeling satisfied
with what you have, is very vital:  satisfaction with just enough food,
clothing, and shelter to protect yourself from the elements.

the Dalai Lama

   
Make room for yourself in your life by keeping it simple.

Stephen C. Paul

    
   

There is a majesty in simplicity.

Alexander Pope

   

It's possible to have too much in life.  Too many clothes jade our appreciation
for new ones; too much money can put us out of touch with life; too much
free time can dull the edge of the soul.  We need sometimes to come very near
the bone so that we can taste the marrow of life rather than its superfluities.

Joan Chittister

   
Prison life taught him how little one can get along with, and what extraordinary
spiritual freedom and peace such simplification can bring.  I remember again,
ironically, that today more of us in the world have the luxury of choice
between simplicity and complication of life.  And for the most part, we,
who could choose simplicity, choose complication.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh
   

   

It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

   

Great people, like nature, use simple language.

Luc de Clapiers Vauvenargues

    
Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language,
and yet it is 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
    

The life of simplicity is simple, but it opens to us a book
in which we never get beyond the first syllable.

Dag Hammarskjöld

    

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Simplicity brings back the joys of Paradise.  Not that we have pure
pleasure without a moment’s suffering, but when we are surrendered
to God, we are not grasping for pleasure, and even our troubles are
received with thanksgiving.  This inner harmony, and this deliverance
from fear and the tormenting desires of self, create a satisfaction in the
soul which is above all the intoxicating joys of this world put together.

François Fenelon

   
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!  As you simplify your life,
the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude,
poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.

Henry David Thoreau
   

The simplified life is a sanctified life,
Much more calm, much less strife.
Oh, what wondrous truths are unveiled--
Projects succeed which had previously failed.
Oh, how beautiful life can be,
Beautiful simplicity.

Peace Pilgrim