Your Stepping Stones
These quotes
have been sent to us by fellow travelers along the simpler path.
Their names are in ( ) after the authors, unless they've requested
anonymity.
Decide who you are, decide what you want
to do, and then do it because it is surely possible. - Unknown
The things I do posses, sometimes they
own me, too. - Phoenix Everything is Everything
Man is rich in proportion to the number of things he
can do without. - Henry David Thoreau (Gerard Mule)
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex,
and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage
- to move in the opposite direction. - E.F. Schumacher
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. - Confucius
Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English
language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding
and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness
lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not
having things. - Elise Boulding
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water
exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter...
to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest
or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple
life. - John Burroughs
The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your
nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand,
the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but
do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties
and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. - Robert Louis
Stevenson
When you got nothin' you got nothin' to lose.- Jack
Dawson from Titanic (Sarah Outten)
Riches does not mean, having a great amount
of property, but riches is self-contentment.
- Prophet Muhammad (Aamer)
Life is either a daring adventure or
nothing. - Helen Keller (Amy Johnson)
Time in the wild reminds
me how much of what I ordinarily do is mere dithering, how much of what
I own is mere encumbrance. The opposite of simplicity, as I understand
it, is not complexity but clutter.
- Scott Sander (Mel Leader)
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry
and narrow mindedness. Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be
acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth. - Mark Twain
(Elizabeth DeFrias)
The only thing money is
good for is to buy your freedom. - Humphrey Bogart (Leland
Wong)
Now and then it's good to pause in
our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. - Guillaume Apollinaire
There is no scarcity of
opportunity to make a living at what you love; there's only a scarcity
of resolve to make it happen. - Wayne Dyer
When society changes
from its natural state of flux,
to that which seems like chaos,
the inner world of the superior man
remains uncluttered and at peace.
By remaining still, his self detatched,
he aids society in its return
to the way of nature and of peace.
The value of his insight may be clearly seen
when chaos ceases. - Tao-Te-Ching (Jon
Bloom)
You are probably already
happy and just don't know it. - (Dave Waxler)
If you can be content right now, then
you'll always be content, because it's always right now. - Willie Nelson
(Stan Booher)
The glass is neither half
full nor half empty rather; it is twice as big as it needs to be. - (Ngan
Nghiem)
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get!
- the White Rabbit (Nev)
We spend too much time
making a living and too little time living and making. - (Rachel
Dillon)
The difference between ordeal and adventure
is.......attitude. - Latitude and Attitude magazine (Rich)
There are only two things
in life that I have to do; breathe and quit breathing, everything else
is optional. - (Loretta Moore)
I want to live simply, to work honestly,
to love completely and to dare mightily, so that when I die, my children,
and their children, will know that I died empty, and well satisfied.
- (Doug Robinson)
Love like you've never
been hurt. Work like you don't need the money. Dance like nobody is watching.
- author unknown (Amy Johnson)
The three grand essentials of happiness
are: Something to do, Someone to love, and Something to hope for - Alexander
Chalmers
There is only one success, to be able
to spend your life in your own way. - Christopher Morely
Space is not something to be filled
with beautiful things; space is beauty. - author unknown
(Annie)
There are only two ways
to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is
as though everything is a miracle. -- Albert Einstein
While we are postponing, life speeds
by. -- Seneca (3BC - 65 AD)
Courage is nothing
more than taking one step more than you think you can. - Holly Lisle
Don't get really good at what you don't
want to do. - Dr. Mark Albion (Joe Blazenski)
Remember that you were
created human beings, not human doings. - Jan Ross (Doug
Robinson)
Always be a little unexpected. - Oscar
Wilde (Gwen Buchan)
First I was dying to finish
high school and start college.
And then I was dying to finish college and start working.
And then I was dying to marry and have children.
And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for
school so i could return to work.
And then I was dying to retire.
And now, I am dying...and suddenly I realize I forgot to live. - Unknown
(Diane)
To be without desires, is to be content.
If you do not wish to have something, you are content with what you
have. And it always seems to me that, the more we don't desire something,
the greater the chance of getting it, and all the more exciting. To
be without desire, is to be simple. If life is simple, then life is
not complicated!!! - from the wisdom of Lao Tzu (Brett
Robertson)
Many of us have not been
informed of the simple fact that as we go deeper into the rat race we
ultimately
become the things that are acquired, owned, and consumed.
(Chris LaPlante)
A rich person is not one who has the
most, but is one who needs the least. - Interview with God (Johann)
Everybody eventually becomes
who they are. (John de Salme)
Spend it while you can / Money's contraband
/ You can't take it with you when you go - Jimmy Buffett (Nancy
Brandon)
Wherever I am, let me
never forget to distinguish want from need. Let me be a good animal today.
- Barbara Kingsolver (Ritchie Mommers)
If you want a golden rule that will
fit everybody, this is it. Have nothing in your house that you do not
know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. - William Norris,1834-1896
(Ritchie Mommers)
Para venir a lo que no
sabes, has de ir por donde no sabes. (To arrive at that which you know
not, you must go by the way that you know not.) - San Juan de la Cruz
(Stephanie Shasteen)
One of the advantages of being disorderly
is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. - A.A. Milne
(Stephanie Shasteen)
Tis a joy to be simple,
tis a joy to be free, tis a joy to come down where we ought to be... -
excerpt from an old Shaker hymn titled "Simple Gifts" (Jenna
Cox)
I once had a sparrow alight upon
my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and
I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should
have been by any epaulet I could have worn. - Henry David Thoreau (Phyl
Lauer)
The more flesh, the
more worms; the more possessions, the more worry. - Rabbi Hillel (Russ
Schneider)
True possission is proved only
by giving; all you are unable to give possesses you. - Andre Gide (Wayne
W. Urffer)
I live one day at
a time, one day at a time. Yesterday's gone and tomorrow is blind, so
I live one day at a time. - Willie Nelson (Dan Davidson)
The more things you own, the more
they own you. - Pat Jim (Dan Davidson)
If you wait for tomorrow
to follow your dreams, by the time that you get there they're gone. -
Willie Nelson (Dan Davidson)
We are what we repeatedly do. -
Aristotle (Tuesday Lywin)
Don't be afraid to
try something new. An amateur built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
- unknown (Leigh Prang)
A human being should be able to
change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design
a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone,
comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve
equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer,
cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization
is for insects. - Robert A. Heinlein (John O. Anderson)
Too many people spend
money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people
they don't like. - Will Rogers (Chris Vedeler)
You can't have everything. Where
would you put it? - Steven Wright
And the money you
make, and the money you spend,
And the money you horde to the bitter end
Will never pile high or amount so steep
As the friends you make and the friends you keep. - unknown (John
Buffet)
When you have no debt and don't
have a lavish lifestyle, you don't always have to earn a paycheck. Most
people take their job way too seriously. Life is short and nobody ever
went to their deathbed wishing they had spent more time at the office.
(Charlie Brown)
There is nowhere to
go. You are already there. - Krishnamurti (Kathy Gatenby)
Follow your bliss. - Joseph Campbell
(Kathy Gatenby)
It's not hard to make
a lot of money, if money is all you want. - Citizen Kane
(Shelly Fox)
Work to become, not to acquire.
- on a church sign (Stan James)
All unhappiness is
due to attachment. - unknown (Francie Gross)
Meaning is not something you stumble
across, like an answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt.
Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your
own past, out of the affections and loyalties, out of the experience
of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding,
out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love,
out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something.
The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together
into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that
has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance
of success or failure is of less account.--- John Gardner (Beth
Jordan)
If you truly want
to understand something, try to change it. - Kurt Lewin (Alistair
Lloyd)
Life is like riding a bicycle;
you don't fall off unless you stop pedalling. - Claude Pepper (Alistair
Lloyd)
Simplify. . .once
is enough. (just ed)
Don't make your house a home. .
.make it a HAPPENING! (J. Chipps)
Better is an handful
with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of
spirit. - Ecclesiastes 4:6 (Darla Mathews)
Oh, Lord! Thou givest us everything,
at the price of an effort. - Leonardo da Vinci (Loren Kahle)
In life you will pay
one of two prices: the price of discipline or the price of regret. and
you'll find that on a scale, the price of discipline weighs ounces, the
price of regret weighs tons! - unknown (Loren Kahle)
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt, And dance like no one's watching.
- unknown (Joseph Bowman)
If you want to change some things
in your life, you have to change some things in your life. This
is because if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get
what you've always gotten - unknown (Dexter
Yager)
Anywhere is walking distance if
you have the time. - Steven Wright (Don Gillette)
The more content I am with myself,
the fewer material things I need
My goal should not
be to have something but to be something
The more secure you
feel with yourself, the fewer faults you find in others
No question is ever
stupid if you're the one asking it
A good way to save
money is to be too busy to go shopping (Ginger Gordy)
Possession is nine
tenths of the psychosis. (R.S.)
It is desirable that a man be clad
so simply that he can lay his hands on
himself in the dark, and that he live in all respects so compactly and
preparedly, that, if an enemy take the town, he can, like the old philosopher,
walk out the gate empty-handed without anxiety. - Henry David Thoreau
(David Jones)
Don't choose your
career, let your career choose you - unknown
Live simply that others may simply
live. - Mohandas Gandhi
It is only with the
heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to
the naked eye." - The Little Prince Antoine
de Sainte Exupery. (Will C. Hebert)
The problem with the
rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. - Lily Tomlin
(Stacey Clark)
No matter where you go, there you
are." -Buckaroo Banzai, from the Adventures
of (Curtis Collins)
Do not take life too seriously,
you will never get out of it alive anyway - author unknown (Curtis
Collins)
So we never live, but we hope to
live - and as we are always preparing to
be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so. - Pascal
(J.C. Boggs)
I'm just sitting here watching
the wheels go round and round/I really love to watch them roll/No longer
riding on the merry go round/I just had to let it go.- John Lennon
in dwelling, live close
to the ground.
in thinking, keep to the simple.
in conflict, be fair and generous.
in governing, don¹t try to control.
in work, do what you enjoy.
in family life, be completely present.-
Tao Te Ching
We fill the hands and nurseries
of our children with all manner of dolls, drums and horses, withdrawing
their eyes from the plain face and...Nature, the sun and moon, the animals,
the water and stones which should be their toys. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Tanya)
Where my caravan has
rested, flowers I leave you on the grass. -
Monica Dickens (Jane Gibson - This has become my motto for the
way I live my life, to leave something good behind, spiritually or physically.
I can also think of many wonderful people I know who leave flowers on
the grass, so to speak, wherever they have been.)
To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard,
think quietly, talk gently, act frankly. . .This is my symphony. - William
Ellery Channing (Amy Keown)
Act Now or Dream On. - from an
ad in the New York Times (Brenda L. Deming)
When you are content to be simply
yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you. -
Tao Te Ching (Alan Goldstein)
Life is what happens
to you when you’re busy making other plans. - John Lennon (M. B.
Sweetzer, Karen Schwarz)
For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also. - Jesus (Bill Stout)
I am more and more inclined to
reduce my baggage, to lop off superfluities. I become more and more
in love with simple things and simple folk- a small house, a hut in
the woods, a tent on the shore. The show and splendor of great houses,
elaborate furnishings, stately halls, oppress me; impose upon me. They
fix the attention on false values, they set up a false standard of beauty;
they stand between me and the real feeders of character and thought.
- John Burroughs (Amy Keown)
I realized my inmost
cherished desires by defending them from my casual wishes. - The Richest
Man in Babylon
Life is a journey, not a destination.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (Gary Smith)
If you ask a question,
and stop long enough to listen, the universe will answer. - Jack Flanders
(Alan Goldstein)
He who desires naught will always
be free. - E. R. Lefebure
To laugh often and much; to win
the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to
earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false
friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave
the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or
a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Amy Keown)
There are two ways to be rich--make
more or need less. - Rimo’s Rule
Imagine no possessions, I wonder
if you can - No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. - John
Lennon (Karen Schwarz)
Until now, life, this simple thing,
has not been properly seen. One did not know that it was so simple and
clear, that one merely needed to organize it and free it from all excess.
to work for life, not for palaces or temples, cemeteries or museums.
- Aleksander Rodcenko (Amy Keown)
Most of the mistakes I’ve made
in my life have been when I said “yes”, and wanted to say “no”. - Moss
Hart (Gary Smith)
The greatest wealth is to live
content with little. - Plato (Amy Keown)
There’s no such thing as saving
time, it’s all a matter of how you spend it. - Jeff Oliverson (Alan
Goldstein)
To secure the greatest amount of
pleasure with the least possible outlay should be the aim of all economic
effort. - Francois Quesnay
We are very good at preparing to
live, but not very good at living. - Thich Nhat Hanh (Amy Keown)
As thou hast believed, so be it
done unto thee. - Jesus (Gary Smith)
Challenge yourself to advance as
a person. - unknown (Frances)
Most of the luxuries, and many
of the so-called comforts, of life are not only dispensable, but hindrances
to the elevation of mankind. - Henry David Thoreau (Amy Keown)
Everything should
be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein (Gary
Smith)
Yesterday is gone....tomorrow isn't
here yet. I have just one day - today...and I can choose how I shall
be! And I choose to be happy!!! - Groucho Marx
There is no such thing
as an ordinary day. - Jim Goodwin
If there is any money left when I die, it's strictly
mismanagement on my part.-Tony Jeffries
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