Quotes about Simplicity

The rich fop Francis of Assisi was bored all his life?until he fell in love with Christ and gave all his stuff away and became the troubadour of Lady Poverty.

Prayer is easier than we think. we want to think it is too hard or too high and holy for us, because that gives us an excuse for not doing it. This is false humility. We can all do it, even the most sinful, shallow, silly, and stupid of us.

St. Thomas is as practical and plain and reasonable in ethics as Aristotle, or Confucius, or your uncle.

De Caussade makes this matter of duty very simple, too, as he makes everything simple: "We have two duties to fulfill: we must actively seek to carry God's will into effect and passively accept all that his will sends us" (p. 73). That's all. That's it.

Normal people attempt countless goals with limited success. Weird people focus on just one God-given objective with tremendous results.

Better a little with God than a whole lot without Him. Better to have fewer houses, cars, appliances, clothes, toys, and bills than to have the whole world and lose your soul. Better something paid for that's used and enjoyed and shared and worn out than something nice and shiny and new that won't be paid for until 2019 and that you're too stressed to enjoy. Better a little with the fear of the Lord than more of what everyone else has. Better than normal, instead of normal is best.

Wisdom is all about the simple, often tiny, obvious things, done consistently, one at a time.

To be great at a few things and experience it, you have to say no to many things.

Brute force crushes many plants. Yet the plants rise again. The Pyramids will not last a moment compared with the daisy. And before Buddha or Jesus spoke the nightingale sang, and long after the words of Jesus and Buddha are gone into oblivion the nightingale still will sing. Because it is neither preaching nor commanding nor urging. It is just singing. And in the beginning was not a Word, but a chirrup.

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

The man who buys what he does not need will often need what he cannot buy.'

It's hard to feel like much is wrong in the world when you're looking into the eyes of a happy baby.