Quotes About Contentment

Me parece que siempre seré feliz allí donde no estoy

All the happiness of man stems from one thing only: that he is incapable of staying quietly in his room.

Baudelaire: Il me semble que je serais toujours bien là où je ne suis pas. In other words: It seems to me that I will always be happy in the place where I am not. Or, more bluntly: Wherever I am not is the place where I am myself. Or else, taking the bull by the horns: Anywhere out of the world.

Una volta tanto mi lasciai andare, senza volermi sentire superiore alla mia felicità, senza volermi guardare dall'alto o essere più intelligente dei miei sentimenti.

For a man who finds life tolerable only by staying on the surface of himself, it is natural to be satisfied with offering no more than this surface to others.

Baudelaire: Il me semble que je serais toujours bien là où je ne suis pas. In other words: It seems to me that I will always be happy in the place where I am not. Or, more bluntly: Wherever I am not is the place where I am myself.

But that is how it is with want. As long as you lack something, you yearn for it without cease. If only I could have that one thing, you tell yourself, all my problems would be solved. But once you get it, once the object of your desires is thrust into your hands, it begins to lose its charm.

Cuando a un hombre la vida le resulta tolerable sólo si permanece en la superficie de sí mismo, es natural que se sienta satisfecho obteniendo esa misma superficie de los demás

If you suffer for something that gives delight, soon the suffering itself can give joy.

turns out that one can screw up being happy by trying to be happy—or at least by trying to be happy in the wrong way.

Money does make you happy; it's the trying to make money that makes you sad. The trick is to get money in the course of other, meaningful, pursuits

There is no contradiction here. Money does make you happy; it's the trying to make money that makes you sad. The trick is to get money in the course of other, meaningful, pursuits—or, if you can manage it, to be born into wealth.)

A creature that could savor positive experiences indefinitely might stop striving, and hence be at a disadvantage relative to those who are less prone to stand pat. Some degree of unsettledness, anxiety, and ambition may be baked into the human condition. And much of this is connected to status—where you stand relative to others. I'm happy with my car, but then my neighbor gets a nicer one and my happiness goes away.

Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that when we think about our overall lives, we tend to compare ourselves with others—and when it comes to social comparison, the sky is the limit.

We are happier when we are healthy": Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works

Man is more miserable, more restless and unsatisfied than ever before, simply because half his nature--the spiritual--is starving for true food, and the other half--the material--is fed with bad food.

How amazing it is to be alive Anyone who lives and breathes and puts both feet on the ground, What possible reason could he have for envying the gods

Today you will envy the blessings of another, or you will bask in the wonder of the amazing grace you have been given.

Contentment celebrates grace. The contended heart is satisfied with the Giver and is therefore freed from craving the next gift.

We weren't created to find our satisfaction in the little, earthbound kingdom treasures of the here and now. We were created to seek a better treasure, and in so doing to be eternally grateful and satisfied.

Whatever sits on the other side of your "if-only" is where you are looking for life, peace, joy, hope, and lasting contentment of heart.

If my heart is ever going to be freed of grumbling and ruled by gratitude, I need your grace: grace to remember, grace to see, grace that produces a heart of humble joy.

Our obsession with material things brings trouble and heartache into our lives. So we tell ourselves that we'll do better—we commit ourselves for a time to new budgets, we go on temporary diets, we hold garage sales. But none of it lasts for long because deep inside us, we treasure the creation more than we treasure the Creator.

Sturdy contentment that can weather the storms of difficulty and want is always rooted in worship.