Many of us say we want a simple life, but it’s not always clear what exactly that means or how to achieve it. We can define simple living as cutting back your possessions and living a less hectic lifestyle. Simple living is all about finding beauty in less and putting quality over quantity. It’s about valuing things that make us happy instead of chasing status symbols or societal expectations. In this article, we have collected 70 inspirational simple living quotes that will make you rethink your life. Quotes have an amazing ability for motivating us and helping us out when we need a boost of any sort… don’t you think?
Please take inspiration from these simple living quotes, be inspired, and whatever your life is like at the moment there’s sure to be a few quotes that will speak to you.
Here they are – 70 simple living quotes!
70 Simple Living Quotes
#1
“Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.”
#2
“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
#3
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” ~ Hans Hofmann
#4
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci
#5
“If one’s life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: satisfaction with just enough food, clothing, and shelter to protect yourself from the elements.” ~ Dalai Lama
#6
“When simple is more than enough, you will feel happy more than enough!” ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan
#7
“Simplicity isn’t about being a cold, hard minimalist. A different way of looking at simplicity is to take note of the Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi. It is difficult to translate it directly into a Western sensibility but it is a way of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature.” ~ Amanda Talbot
#8
“The simplest things are overlooked. And yet, it is the simplest things that are the most essential.” ~ Thomas Lloyd Qualls
#9
“Simplicity is complex. It’s never simple to keep things simple. Simple solutions require the most advanced thinking.” ~ Richie Norton
#10
“When we focus more on fitting it all in instead of making time for what counts, we lose sight of how to create a meaningful life.” ~ Courtney Carver
#11
“Live simply so that others may simply live.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
#12
“Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.” ~ Thomas Kempis
#13
“The greatest challenge in life is to be our own person and accept that being different is a blessing and not a curse. A person who knows who they are lives a simple life by eliminating from their orbit anything that does not align with his or her overriding purpose and values. A person must be selective with their time and energy because both elements of life are limited.” ~ Kilroy J. Oldster
#14
“I just want to live simply and pay attention to what’s happening each day.” ~ Kent Haruf
#15
“When you simplify your life, you will be able to see the life much better because with a simple life you get rid of the obstacles that prevents your horizons!” ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan
#16
“Don’t make your life complicated, live simply.” ~ MJ Jabican
#17
“Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” ~ Isaac Newton
#18
“In order to seek one’s own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.” ~ Plato
#19
“I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.” ~ Albert Einstein
#20
“Escape from complicated life! Take refuge in simple life! You will find three treasures there: Healthy body, peaceful mind and a life away from ambitious fools!” ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan
#21
“Minimalism isn’t about removing things you love. It’s about removing the things that distract you from the things you love.” ~ Joshua Becker
#22
“Perhaps, it is not necessary to have so many things. Perhaps, it is not necessary to do so many things. Do we really need it all? Or are we drowning ourselves in things and busyness?” ~ Akiroq Brost
#23
“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” ~ Plato
#24
“For a few minutes I tried to empty my mind entirely, to concentrate solely on breathing: sometimes it’s useful to rediscover simpler pleasures of life.” ~ Romain Gary
#25
“More was never the answer. The answer, it turned out, was always less.” ~ Cait Flanders
#26
“Say NO to all meaningless activities, so do not need a calendar to remember when is the next really fulfilling event in your life.” ~ Rodolfo Peon
#27
“The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go.” ~ Steve Maraboli
#28
“Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are.” ~ Courtney Carver
#29
“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” ~ Socrates
#30
“Best rule for a simple life… Care with no reason, love with no expectation.” ~ Ritu Ghatourey
#31
“My choice of a lighter lifestyle has brought me a greater sense of well-being. In a world that often seems stressful and chaotic, that’s a feeling I cherish.” ~ Lisa J. Shultz
#32
“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.” ~ Leo Tolstoy
#33
“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder
#34
“We need more country than concrete, we need more mind than material, we need more savannah than sky-scrapers, we need more melody than malady. And this can only happen if we make simplicity and responsibility the way of life.” ~ Abhijit Naskar
#35
“Live a simple life; you will own the most beautiful treasures of the world!” ~ Mehmet Murat ildan
#36
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.” ~ Melody Beattie
Simple Living Quotes
#37
“After a while, I wasn’t saying no because I was so busy, I was saying no because I didn’t want to be so busy anymore.” ~ Courtney Carver
#38
“I do not particularly like the word ‘work.’ Human beings are the only animals who have to work, and I think that is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Other animals make their livings by living, but people work like crazy, thinking that they have to in order to stay alive. The bigger the job, the greater the challenge, the more wonderful they think it is. It would be good to give up that way of thinking and live an easy, comfortable life with plenty of free time. I think that the way animals live in the tropics, stepping outside in the morning and evening to see if there is something to eat, and taking a long nap in the afternoon, must be a wonderful life. For human beings, a life of such simplicity would be possible if one worked to produce directly his daily necessities. In such a life, work is not work as people generally think of it, but simply doing what needs to be done.” ~ Masanobu Fukuoka
#39
“Minimalism is about creating space to live simply and meaningfully; it’s about living intentionally.” ~ Laurie Buchanan
#40
“You don’t need more space. You need less stuff.” ~ Joshua Becker
#41
“To realise the soothing power of simple life is to find the secret of happiness!” ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan
#42
“The simple life is an authentic life.” ~ Kilroy J. Oldster
#43
“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.” ~ Lao Tzu
#44
“Simplicity of living, if deliberately chosen, implies a compassionate approach to life. It means that we are choosing to live our daily lives with some degree of conscious appreciation of the condition of the rest of the world.” ~ Duane Elgin
#45
“Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.” ~ Charles Warner
#46
“Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.” ~ Edwin Way Teale
#47
“I’m just delighted to be living, to be able to have a simple conversation, to feel a ray of sunlight on my skin and listen to the breeze move through the leaves of a tree.” ~ Ryuichi Sakamoto
#48
“I strive for simplicity and believe simplicity is beauty.” ~ Allan Alder
#49
“I discovered all over Ireland is that people living simple lives by the sea or in the remote countryside seem a lot calmer than city folk with their iPads and their Android phones.” ~ James Nesbitt
#50
“The simplest things are often the truest.” ~ Richard Bach
#51
“Living with only the bare essentials has not only provided superficial benefits such as the pleasure of a tidy room or the simple ease of cleaning, it has also led to a more fundamental shift. It’s given me a chance to think about what it really means to be happy.” ~ Fumio Sasaki
#52
“Lead a simple life. First reduce your greeds. Then reduce your needs.” ~ Ritu Ghatourey
#53
“To be unavailable for our friends and family, to be unable to find time for the sunset (or even know that the sun has set at all), to whiz through our obligations without time for a single, mindful breath, this has become the model of a successful life.” ~ Wayne Muller
#54
“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of what they have.”
Inspirational Simple Living Quotes
#55
“The 5 Principles of JOMO:
- JOMO is the opposite of FOMO (the Fear Of Missing Out).
- JOMO is intentionally choosing what to keep and what to give.
- JOMO is choosing to ignore the Joneses (NOT just NOT keep up).
- JOMO is framing the moment to keep the big picture dream in focus.
- JOMO is the art of improved results with minimalism over maximalism.”
~ Richie Norton
#56
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” ~ Hans Hofmann
#57
“How do we return to a simpler way of living? Is there some way that we can start to think of each other as human beings again, instead of worshiping money, instead of worshiping electronics, instead of worshiping getting ahead just for me?” ~ Giancarlo Esposito
#58
“Simplicity boils down to two things: identify the essential and eliminate the rest.” ~ Leo Babauta
#59
“I’ve found that the less stuff I own, the less my stuff owns me.” ~ Nathan W. Morris
#60
“Declutter your mind, your heart, your home. Let go of the heaviness that is weighing you down. Make your life simple, but significant.” ~ Maria Defillo
#61
“Do only what is necessary and required. Efficiency is elegant. Less is more.” ~ Scott Perry
#62
“Who could justify trading a lifetime of stress and backbreaking labor for better blinds? Is a nicer-looking window treatment really worth so much of your life?” ~ Cal Newport
#63
“If it costs you peace, it’s too expensive.”
Thought-Provoking Simple Living Quotes
#64
“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” ~ Steve Jobs
#65
“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
#66
“A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with — that’s poverty — but how efficiently we can put first things first… When you’re clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it’s clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar.” ~ Victoria Moran
#67
“Stay low, stay quiet, keep it simple, don’t expect too much, enjoy what you have.” ~ Dean Koontz
#68
“For a few minutes I tried to empty my mind entirely, to concentrate solely on breathing: sometimes it’s useful to rediscover simpler pleasures of life.” ~ Romain Gary
#69
“Consume less, create more.”
#70
“This was the pattern of my days, a simple life led by natural rhythms rather than the requirements and expectations of others.” ~ Neil Ansell
We hope you are inspired by these simple living quotes as much as we are!
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