quotations about contentment
Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.
AESOP
"The Crab and the Fox", Aesop's Fables
You say, "If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied." You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.
CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
The New Park Street Pulpit
I exist as I am, that is enough,
If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
And if each and all be aware I sit content.
WALT WHITMAN
Song of Myself
Contentment is not resignation. A contented person is not a defeated person. True contentment never asks, "Why bother? What is the point?" Neither does true contentment equal an excuse for inaction.... Contentment doesn't wring its hands; it wrings every bit of good out of every situation.
MARCIA FORD
Essentials for Life
A flying dove please lead me and I'll follow you
Above the clouds beyond the stormy sea
I long to share a world of sweet contentment there
In that bright land where grows the olive tree
EDDY ARNOLD
"Olive Tree", Walkin' in Love Land
The trick of being contented is to buy one model and never read the ads about the others.
ANONYMOUS
He that commends me to mine own content
Commends me to the thing I cannot get.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
The Comedy of Errors
Contentment opes the source of every joy.
JAMES BEATTIE
The Minstrel
Be satisfied with what you have.
AESOP
"The Dog and His Shadow", Aesop's Fables
'Tis better to be lowly born,
And range with humble livers in content,
Than to be perk'd up in a glistering grief,
And wear a golden sorrow.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Henry VIII
Wise or unwise, who doubts for a moment that contentment is the cause of happiness? Yet the inverse is true: we are contented because we are happy, and not happy because we are contented. Well-regulated minds may be satisfied with a small portion of happiness; none can be happy with a small portion of content.
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR
Imaginary Conversations
I am content; that is a blessing greater than riches; and he to whom that is given need ask no more.
HENRY FIELDING
The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews
Content makes poor men rich; Discontent makes rich Men poor.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1749
Content layeth pleasure, nay virtue, in a slumber, with few and faint intermissions. It is to the mind like moss to a tree, it bindeth it up so as to stop its growth.
GEORGE SAVILE HALIFAX
A Character of King Charles II
Contentment is not being full to the brim; contentment is acknowledging what you lack and being okay with dancing without it. Contentment is being so absorbed in dancing for God and trusting Him so fully that you realize you have everything you need for this leg of the dance.
SHANNON KUBIAK PRIMICERIO
The Divine Dance
Adversity is the only tutor of contentment. No man, unless his mouth has been embittered with gall, can taste the true savour of honey.
ANTHONY LISLE
The Westminster Review, Jan. 1914
As for contentment, all that's behind me.
GANG OF FOUR
"I Fled", Hard
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.
ANN BRASHARES
Forever in Blue
Content is the Philosopher's Stone, that turns all it touches into Gold.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758
Awaiting the dawn
I'll find contentment
Singing your song
SARAH KELLY
"About Midnight", Where the Past Meets Today