The state of life is most happy where superfluities are not required and necessities are not wanting.
Interpretation
True happiness comes from having what you need and not desiring excess.
This quote by Plutarch emphasizes the idea that a genuinely happy life does not depend on material excess, but rather on fulfilling basic necessities. It suggests that happiness is found in simplicity and contentment with what one has, rather than in the pursuit of superfluous desires.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about finding joy in simple living.
Sometimes small incidents, rather than glorious exploits, give us the best evidence of character. So, as portrait painters are more exact in doing the face, where the character is revealed, than the rest of the body, I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks of the souls of men.
It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief - the other contempt.
Come back with your shield - or on it
The richest soil, if uncultivated, produces the rankest weeds.
For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.
Our senses through ignorance of Reality, falsely tell us that what appears to be, is. FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
One could be happy not only without love, but despite it.
I laugh, and it's laughter, not light, that casts out the darkness building within me, that reminds me I am still alive, even in this strange place where everything I've ever known is coming apart.
I've taken my fun where I've found it.
The way to healthy living is to shift from quantitative economic growth to quality of life, food, water and air - to shift from craving to contentment and from greed to gratitude
Pay close attention to the particular thoughts you use to deprive yourself of happiness.
Confidence; as a teenager? Because I knew what I loved. I loved to read; I loved to listen to music; and I love cats. Those three things. So, even though I was an only kid, I could be happy because I knew what I loved.
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