Voluntary Simplicity Quotes & Sayings

The intention of this way of life [voluntary simplicity] is not to dogmatically live with less. It's a more demanding intention of living with balance. This is a middle way that moves between the extremes of poverty and indulgence. — Duane Elgin

Be like the flower that gives its fragrance to even the hand that crushes it. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

It seems to me that inner growth is the whole moving force behind voluntary simplicity. — Duane Elgin

Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more. — Jon Kabat-Zinn

Nothing lovelier can be found In woman, than to study household good, And good works in her husband to promote. — John Milton

Voluntary simplicity is at once joyous and altruistic. Joyous because it is not permanently plagued by the hunger for "more"; altruistic because it does not encourage the disproportionate concentration of resources in the hands of a few, resources which - were they to be spread evenly - would significantly improve the lives of those deprived of basic needs. — Matthieu Ricard

To me, voluntary simplicity means integration and awareness in my life. — Duane Elgin

Tightwaddery without creativity is deprivation. When there is a lack of resourcefulness, inventiveness, and innovation, thrift means doing without. When creativity combines with thrift you may be doing it without money, but you are not doing without. — Amy Dacyczyn

I fired the nurse the next day because she didn't check out the NFL schedule in advance - just kidding, ... I plan to be in Denver. I haven't missed a lot of games over the years. But there's a bunch I wish I had. — Lamar Hunt

There was musuc in me, but in this post-Cataclysm world, that didn't matter very much. — Jodi Meadows

In Zen, poverty is voluntary, and considered not really as poverty so much as simplicity, freedom, unclutteredness. — Alan Watts

Voluntary simplicity has more to do with the state of mind than a person's physical surroundings and possessions. — Duane Elgin

As my spiritual growth expanded and developed, voluntary simplicity was a natural outgrowth. I came to realize the cost of material accumulation was too high and offered fewer and fewer real rewards, psychological and spiritual. — Duane Elgin

The philosopher Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king. Said Aristippus, 'If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.'

Said [author:Diogenes|3213618, 'Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king". — Anthony De Mello

The relationship between ethics and thrift can be summed up in one sentence. It is wrong to save money at the expense of others. Period. — Amy Dacyczyn

None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty. — Henry David Thoreau

The essence of voluntary simplicity is living in a way what is outwardly simple and inwardly rich. — Duane Elgin

We rely more on enthusiasm than actual skill. Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically and people will like it more. — Chris Martin

I think, therefore I am, said a man whose mother quickly
hit him on the head, saying, I hit my son on the head,
therefore I am.
No no, you've got it all wrong, cried the man.
So she hit him on the head again and cried, therefore I am.
You're not, not that way; you're supposed to think, not hit,
cried the man.

. . . I think, therefore I am, said the man.
I hit, therefore we both are, the hitter and the one who gets
hit, said the man's mother.
But at this point the man had ceased to be; unconscious he
could not think. But his mother could. So she thought, I am,
and so is my unconscious son, even if he doesn't know it . . . — Russell Edson

Five Life Standards of Voluntary Simplicity
Do Justice
Learn from the World Community
Nurture People
Cherish the Natural Order
Non-Conform Freely. — Doris Janzen Longacre