#simplicity

Grandeur and beauty are so very opposite, that you often diminish the one as you increase the other. Variety is most akin to the latter, simplicity to the former. ↗

— William Shenstone

#beauty #diminish #former #grandeur #increase

The absence of the heavy boot of Europe has preserved to these people the agile walk of the wild animal, while the general simplicity of their lives has given them many other points of physical perfection. ↗

— John Millington Synge

#agile #animal #boot #europe #general

Seek simplicity but distrust it. ↗

— Alfred North Whitehead

#seek #simplicity

The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. ↗

— Charles Eastman

#been #conquerors #despised #generally #his

A simple man will have only what he needs, and he will know the difference between what he needs and what he wants. We feel that whatever we want, we desperately need. But before we possess the world, to our wide surprise we see that the world has already possessed us. ↗

— Sri Chinmoy

#simplicity-in-life #inspirational

If we think we will have joy only by praying and singing psalms, we will be disillusioned. But if we fill our lives with simple good things and constantly thank God for them, we will be joyful, that is, full of joy. And what about our problems? When we determine to dwell on the good and excellent things in life, we will be so full of those things that they will tend to swallow our problems. ↗

— Richard J. Foster

#gratitude #joy #simplicity #life

To simplify your life, just think of yourself as a four-year-old child. Try to imagine the way he thinks of reality. If you have to talk to someone about a so-called complicated matter, see how you can simplify it. No matter with whom you are talking, feel that you are a child and that person is also a child. When a childlike quality comes into your life, everything automatically becomes simple. ↗

— Sri Chinmoy

#childlikeness #simplicity #imagination

I delight to come to my bearings,—not walk in procession with pomp and parade, in a conspicuous place, but to walk even with the Builder of the universe, if I may,—not to live in this restless, nervous, bustling, trivial Nineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goes by. What are men celebrating? They are all on a committee of arrangements, and hourly expect a speech from somebody. God is only the president of the day, and Webster is his orator. I love to weigh, to settle, to gravitate toward that which most strongly and rightfully attracts me;—not hang by the beam of the scale and try to weigh less,—not suppose a case, but take the case that is ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#simplicity #timelessness #love

These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraphs and kerosene and coal stoves -- they're good to have but the trouble is, folks get to depend on 'em. ↗

— Laura Ingalls Wilder

#progress #progressivism #simplicity #change

The meditative mind sees disagreeable or agreeable things with equanimity, patience, and good-will. Transcendent knowledge is seeing reality in utter simplicity. (146) ↗

— Jean-Yves Leloup

#equanimity #knowledge #meditation #mind #reality