George Saunders Quotes

No one is contented in this world, I believe. There is always something left to desire, and the last thing longed for always seems the most necessary to happiness.

Boredom or discontent is useful to me when I acknowledge it and see clearly my assumption that there's something else I would rather be doing.

Happy thou art not; for what thou hast not, still thou strivest to get; and what thou hast, forgettest.

I can't get no satisfaction.

I am quite miserable because I'm never satisfied with what I've got. You're always looking for that next high, and that is what I would define as happiness.

I suppose I was always very greedy. I was never happy with what we had, and I was always looking for new opportunities.

Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand - but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.

There are two kinds of people on this Earth: Those who are content and those who are not.

Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.

My thought is me: that is why I cannot stop thinking. I exist because I think I cannot keep from thinking.

I don't talk about consciousness. I talk about interiority.

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

I'm never content, and I don't know if that's a curse or a good thing.

Did I have a heart to be contented? Well, no, not particularly. I had a tendency to be discontented: ambitious, dissatisfied, fretful, and tough to please...It's easier to complain than to laugh, easier to yell than to joke around, easier to be demanding than to be satisfied.

The present is never a happy state to any human being.

Consciousness is, among other things, a spontaneous exercise in creativity.

A way of life that keeps saying 'Around the next corner, above the next step,' works against the natural order of things and makes it so difficult to be happy and good.

Wanting more is just a recipe for heartache.

I ain't ever satisfied.

Its really most remarkable how the human race is so seldom satisfied with what its got. Give a man the world and he's pining for the moon.

If there were nothing but thought in you, you wouldn't even know you are thinking. You would be like a dreamer who doesn't know he is dreaming. When you know you are dreaming, you are awake within the dream.

Society is based on discontent: people wanting more and more and more, being continually dissatisfied with their homes, their bodies, their decor, their clothes, everything.

So often, we blame other people when, really, the problem is right down in here. I'm not happy. I don't know what's wrong. If I just had another job, I could be happy. If I just get married, I would be happy. Well if I just wasn't married, I would be happy. Well, if I just had some kids, I'll be happy. I'll be happy when these kids finally grow up and get out of here. If I had a bigger house, I would be happy. Well, I got a big house. Now if I just had a maid to clean, I'd be happy. Well, now if I just had a maid I could get along with better, I'd be happy.

Being frustrated is disagreeable, but the real disasters of life begin when you get what you want.

What we want is not always what we need.