Anne Bradstreet Quotes

We're working-class people, which means we don't get rich or have maids. Be content with what you are and what you have.

I remember once in junior high school, on a Friday, my mom came home from work and said to my brother and I, 'You know, between us, we have only 27 cents, but we have food in the refrigerator, we have our little garden out back, and we're happy, so we are rich.'

By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.

I don't need many things. I don't need glamour and attention to be happy. I'm very happy being settled and working my butt off and trying to win grand slams.

I've never been one to look up the ladder. I've always looked down the ladder. As long as there's one guy down there, I'm fine.

How rich, how happy is he who lives in poverty! He lives his days in wisdom, and sleeps in peace. Only he can be really happy, only he is so always!

When I was growing up, we didn't have much money. What was important in my house was to have food on the table, be happy, and have our family.

I'm not a showoff. My happiness comes from very basic and simple things.

I grew up with nothing, and I know that I don't need anything to be happy. We were wearing second-hand clothing and eating leftovers, and I was so happy. Five-star hotels and private pick-ups hasn't changed that.

I come from a family who didn't have much money but raised me to believe that money wasn't the most important thing in the world. We had enough; we were happy.

Men live best on moderate means: Nature has dispensed to all men wherewithal to be happy, if mankind did but understand how to use her gifts.

Lack of wealth cannot take away genuine contentment.

Poverty, first of all was never a misfortune for me; it was radiant with sunlight.. I owe it to my family, first of all, who lacked everything and who envied practically nothing.

Many a beggar at the crossway, or gray-haired shepherd on the plain, hath more of the end of all wealth than hundreds who multiply the means.

With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bent arm for a pillow - I have still joy in the midst of all these things.

Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.

When he asked my grandmother if she would mind being poor, she said she would be happy just to have her daughter and himself: 'If you have love, even plain water is sweet.

...a beggar's kingdom is better than a proud man's delusion.

Contentment is the result of a limited imagination.

I'm grateful to myself and those closest to me me for having given me that non-material base that means I'm a happy man, one who doesn't have to compete or engineer projects he doesn't have his heart in.

If you would stop analyzing everything and just look for things to appreciate, you would live happily ever after.

When you are disposed to be vain of your mental acquirements, look up to those who are more accomplished than yourself, that you may be fired with emulation; but when you feel dissatisfied with your circumstances, look down on those beneath you, that you may learn contentment.

But I must never forget how blessed I have been. God has given me gifts and happiness, beyond any of my simple desires. My deepest desire now is to simply live... So with hope and determination, I'd hold on and go on.

For many of us we are always wanting more - we would be happier if we had such and such. Maybe we should pause for a moment and hear what some people in the third world countries would like to make them happier. 1. Having enough to eat so when you go to sleep at night your stomach doesn't ach. 2. Having shoes on your feet and any kind of clothing to keep the cold out. 3. Having a roof over your head. 4. Having the hope that you'll be lucky enough to get some kind of an education. 5. Believing that the dream of freedom, brotherhood, and peace for all mankind will someday come true.

If your desires are not great, a little will seem much to you; for small appetite makes poverty equivalent to wealth.