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. If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we would be happy with more? - Unknown 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 forschool 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) I buy my freedom with my frugality - Vicki Robins, co-author of Your Money or Your Life 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 Please send us your favorite quote on living the simple life. Please credit the original author. If you include your name after the author's we will note who sent it.