One who understands the limits of the good life knows that what eliminates the pains brought on by need and what makes the whole of life perfect is easily obtained, so that there is no need for enterprises that entail the struggle for success.19

And then they say one is misanthropical. Hang it! who can help being misanthropical when he finds everybody getting on in life except himself?

We never reflect how pleasant it is to ask for nothing.

Don't cling to anything and don't reject anything.

The seminaries must be like the churches' poor relations, prolonging their existence with austerity.

He's satisfied with himself. If you have a soul you can't be satisfied.

So long as one is happy one can endure any discipline: it was unhappiness that broke down the habits of work.

If you're unhappy with what you've had over the last 50 years, you have an unfortunate misappraisal of life. It's as good as it gets, and it's very likely to get worse.

Consciousness is an end in itself. We torture ourselves getting somewhere, and when we get there it is nowhere, for there is nowhere to get to.

Do the best you can . . . enjoy the present . . . rest satisfied with what you have.

Those whom fortune has never favored are more joyful than those whom she has deserted.

It is not greedy to enjoy a good dinner, any more than it is to enjoy a good concert. But I do think there is something greedy about trying to enjoy the dinner and the concert at the same time.