The happiest people in life don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just try to make the best of everything. They're like the person in a remote village going to a well every day to get water who says, "Every time I come to this well, I come away with my bucket full!" instead of, "I can't believe I have to keep coming back to this well to fill up my bucket!

Now that I no longer desire all, I have it all without desire.

We should aim rather at leveling down our desires than leveling up our means.

Our problem is not that we desire too much but too little.

Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds.

The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.

When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you like them for who they are. And when you stop expecting material possessions to complete you, you'd be surprised how much pleasure you get from material possessions. And when you stop expecting God to end all your troubles, you'd be surprised how much you like spending time with God.

The rule exists in story because it's a true thing about people. Humans are designed to seek comfort and order, and so if they have comfort and order, they tend to plant themselves, even if their comfort isn't all that comfortable. And even if they secretly want for something better.

Somebody may say, "But I may not be able to hold out." He is going to do that for you—He will hold you. His sheep are safe, my friend.

Depend on it; there is no surer road to unhappiness than always having our own way. To have our wills checked and denied is a blessed thing for us; it makes us value enjoyments when they come. To be indulged perpetually is the way to be made selfish, and selfish people and spoiled children are seldom happy.

Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren land; long heath, broth furze, any thing.

So often I have felt alone in my journey, yet I've been afraid to let anyone see my fear and weakness.