Minimalism Quotes

A few quotes I’ve jotted down over the months, some of which relate to minimalism more than others.

“I am sure that there is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience.”
-Henry David Thoreau

“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

“It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.”
-Bertrand Russell

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
-Leonardo da Vinci

“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”
-Socrates

“We ascribe beauty to that which is simple; which has no superfluous parts; which exactly answers its end.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be as one, two, three and to a hundred or a thousand. We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.”
-Henry David Thoreau

“I’d like to be the sort of person who can enjoy things at the time, instead of having to go back in my head and enjoy them.”
-David Foster Wallace

“I’m an occasional drinker, the kind of guy who goes out for a beer and wakes up in Singapore with a full beard.”
-Raymond Chandler

[Photograph is an office I shot in Hollywood, CA]

6 Reactions

  1. Ken Robbinsq

    All great…Chandler is over the top!

  2. Ashley

    Great quotes! The Wallace quote reminds me of the saying, “I’d rather be here now.” How more simple can you get?

  3. Matthew

    A couple I like: “I have everything, yet nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.” -Terence. “Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death.” -James Byrnes. “It’s not your salary that makes you rich, it’s your spending habits.” -Charles Jaffe. “Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.” -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

  4. HappinessSavouredHot

    Love the quotes! Thoreau was one of my first inspirations, but once I embarked on the simplicity path, I discovered many more. It is such a wonderful life. 🙂