Quotes About Contentment

Pleasure is the happiness of madmen, while happiness is the pleasure of sages," wrote the French novelist and critic Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly.

Happiness is thus viewed as being just a deceptively calm moment in the middle of a storm.

Algunos piensan que hay que sentirse a disgusto, que en la vida debe haber "días nulos" para apreciar mejor la riqueza de instantes de dicha y "beneficiarse de lo agradable del contraste". Pero ¿son sinceros los que afirman cansarse de una felicidad duradera? ¿De qué clase de felicidad hablan? ¿De la euforia que degenera en aburrimiento, de los placeres que decaen, de los goces que languidecen?.

Anyone who enjoys inner peace is no more broken by failure than he is inflated by success.

Pour celui qui a su extraire la quintessence de l'existence, la mort n'est pas une déchéance ultime, mais l'achèvement serein d'une vie bien vécue : une belle mort est l'aboutissement d'une belle vie.

we don't need to train our minds to improve our ability to get upset or jealous.

Renunciation essentially means simplifying one's mind, one's words, and one's activities, by letting go of what obstructs inner freedom. Constraint creates frustration; renunciation produces a real sense of joy.

suffisance est l'apanage du sot

Happiness is a skill, a manner of being, but skills must be learned. As the Persian proverb has it: "Patience turns the mulberry leaf into satin.

Tant de choses essentielles au bonheur n'ont rien à voir avec des transactions économiques.

Les conversations ordinaires sont des « échos d'échos », regrettait l'ermite Patrul Rinpoché. Il suffit d'allumer la télévision ou de se rendre à une soirée mondaine pour être englouti par un déluge de paroles qui non seulement sont inutiles mais exacerbent la convoitise, le ressentiment, la vanité...

By happiness I mean here a deep sense of flourishing that arises from an exceptionally healthy mind. This is not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion, or a mood, but an optimal state of being. Happiness is also a way of interpreting the world, since while it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it. A

For me, happiness is eating a tasty plate of spaghetti"; or "Walking in the snow under the stars," and so on.

Every man wants to be happy, but in order to be so he needs first to understand what happiness is. JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

I didn't say how I want to be happy. There are so many ways to find happiness: start a family, have kids, build a career, seek adventure, help others, find inner peace. . . . Whatever I end up doing, I want my life to be a truly happy one.

Si piensa que todo es perfecto en su vida, o bien es usted un buda, o bien es completamente idiota.

Betsy returned to her chair, took off her coat and hat, opened her book and forgot the world again.

People were always saying to Margaret, 'Well, Julia sings and Betsy writes. Now what is little Margaret going to do?' Margaret would smile politely, for she was very polite, but privately she stormed to Betsy with flashing eyes, 'I'm not going to do anything. I want to just live. Can't people just live?

She tried to act as though it were nothing to go to the library alone. But her happiness betrayed her. Her smile could not be restrained, and it spread from her tightly pressed mouth, to her round cheeks, almost to the hair ribbons tied in perky bows over her ears.

And yet, even as she spoke, she knew that she did not wish to come back. not to stay, not to live. She loved the little yellow cottage more than she loved any place on earth. but she was through with it except in her memories.

Our lives can hold just so much. If they're filled with one thing, they can't be filled with another. We ought to do a lot of thinking about what we want to fill them with.

Abstain from luxuries, for those who live luxurious lives are no servants of God.' HADITH OF AHMAD IBN HANBAL.

Following the rule of abstinence from worldly things does not mean that what is normally permitted becomes prohibited or that wealth should be allowed to go to waste. On the contrary, such abstinence means that you should place greater reliance on what God intends for you than on what you have in hand yourself. And when misfortune strikes, you should relish its continuance for the reward this will bring. HADITH OF AT-TIRMIDHI ON THE AUTHORITY OF ABU DHARR AL-GHIFARI.

My socks may not match, but my feet are always warm.