Bernard de Mandeville Quotes

Poor is the man who desires a lot

He is the least in want who is the least covetous.

He is not poore that hath little, but he that desireth much.

If you wish to make Pythocles rich, do not add to his store of money, but subtract from his desires.

The more wants a man has, the less freedom.

The hardest thing is to take less when you can get more.

You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy.

Be satisfied with needs instead of wants.

I'm not materialistic. I love clothes and all that stuff, but I don't need it to live.

We shall have to practise to lead our life on the basis of our needs, not under the influence of our greed.

I have no use for eight houses, 88 cars and 500 suits. I can't eat but one steak at a time. I don't want but one woman. It's silly to have as one's sole object in life just making money, accumulating wealth.

As I sat down, though, I realized that you can get used to certain luxuries that you start to think they're necessities, but when you have to forgo them, you come to see that you don't need them after all. There was a big difference between needing things and wanting things--though a lot of people had trouble telling the two apart--and at the ranch, I could see, we have pretty much everything we'd need but precious little else.

He who has enough for his wants should desire nothing more.

Let's live with that small pittance which we have; Who covets more is evermore a slave.

The wise man lacked nothing but needed a great number of things, whereas the fool, on the other hand, needs nothing (for he does not know how to use anything) but lacks everything.

Not he who has little, but he whose wishes more, is poor.

She said, "Do you have more things that you need, or more that you don't need?" I said, "It depends on what it means to need.

The less you want, the richer you are. The more you need in order to be happy, the more miserable you’ll be.

Man wants but little here below Nor wants that little long, 'Tis not with me exactly so; But 'tis so in the song. My wants are many, and, if told, Would muster many a score; And were each wish a mint of gold, I still should long for more.

A simple man will have only what he needs, and he will know the difference between what he needs and what he wants. We feel that whatever we want, we desperately need. But before we possess the world, to our wide surprise we see that the world has already possessed us.

He is not poor that hath not much, but he that craves much.

To be content with little is hard; to be content with much, impossible.

If you desire many things, many things will seem few.

Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plan living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. Man's happiness really lies in contentment.

At home, growing up, we weren't really poor. We had everything we needed, we just didn't have what we wanted.