Quotes About Contentment

The soul's joys are greater than the heart's pleasures.

The soul's smile is better than the heart's grin.

Think honestly. Think humbly. Think honorably. Think happily.

You worry less about misplacing a star when the whole sky is yours.

On the coldest night, we two sleeping together— how comfortable!

Nana, how come we don't got a car?' 'Boy, what do we need a car for? We got a bus that breathes fire, and old Mr. Daniels, who always has a trick for you.

His key insight was that yearning, or wishing things were different than they are, is the root of all suffering, and that letting go of this desire is the secret to happiness.

Molly almost goes out of her way to describe how loving and supportive her parents have always been, emphasizing in particular the fact that, while she was growing up, her mom couldn't have cared less whether Molly ran or didn't run, and if she ran, whether she ran well or poorly, as long as she was happy.

Let's not forget The Things They Do To Make Themselves Happy That Actually Make Them Miserable. This is an infinite list. It includes - shopping, watching TV, taking the better job, getting the bigger house, writing a semi-autobiographical novel, educating their young, making their skin look mildly less old and harboring a vague desire to believe there might be a meaning to it all.

The key to happiness wasn't being yourself, because what did that even mean? Everyone had many selves. No. The key to happiness is finding the lie that suits you best.

Why want another universe if this one has dogs?

History was, is, a one-way street. You have to keep walking forwards, but you don't always need to look ahead. Sometimes you can just look around and be happy right where you are.

To enjoy life, we might have to stop thinking about what we will never be able to read and watch and say and do, and start to think of how to enjoy the world within our boundaries. To live on a human scale. To focus on the few things we can do, rather than the millions of things we can't. To not crave parallel lives. To find a smaller mathematics. To be a proud and singular one. An indivisible prime.

Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything it is because we are dangerously near to wanting nothing.' —Sylvia Plath

Goals are the source of misery. An unattained goal causes pain, but actually achieving it brings only a brief satisfaction.

Don't compare your actual self to a hypothetical self. Don't drown in a sea of 'what ifs'. Don't clutter your mind by imagining other versions of you, in parallel universes where you made different decisions.

The present is known. The future is unknown. The present is solid. The future is abstract. Ruining the present by worrying about the future is like burning your most treasured possession simply because you might one day lose other possessions that you don't own yet.

One life of sadness was enough. What is the point of risking more?

How much extra happiness am I acquiring? Why am I wanting so much more than I need? Wouldn't I be happier learning to appreciate what I already have?

It is easier to learn to be soaked and happy than to learn how to stop the rain.

The whole of consumerism is based on us wanting the next thing rather than the present thing we already have. This is an almost perfect recipe for unhappiness.

If we demand the future be free from suffering in order to be happy; we can't be happy.

Happiness is not out here. It is in there.

Want,' she told her, in a measured tone, 'is an interesting word. It means lack. Sometimes if we fill that lack with something else the original want disappears entirely. Maybe you have a lack problem rather than a want problem. Maybe there is a life that you really want to live.