Bob Greene Quotes

What the banker sighs for, the meanest clown may have-leisure and a quiet mind.

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?

A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.

Happiness, true happiness, is an inner quality. It is a state of mind. If your mind is at peace, you are happy. If your mind is at peace, but you have nothing else, you can be happy. If you have everything the world can give - pleasure, possessions, power - but lack peace of mind, you can never be happy.

The more simple my life is, the happier I am.

I'm on my way to happiness, where I can find some peace and rest.

Moderation in people who are contented comes from that calm that good fortune lends to their spirit.

Silence is the essential condition of happiness.

Since we desire the true happiness that is brought about by a calm mind, and such peace of mind arises only from having a compassionate attitude, we need to make a concerted effort to develop compassion.

We know that we are happy when our mind is peaceful, and unhappy when it is not. It is therefore clear that our happiness depends upon our having a peaceful mind and not on good external conditions. Even if our external conditions are poor, if we maintain a peaceful mind all the time we shall always be happy.

If one's life is simple, contentment has to come.

O Contentment, make me rich! for without thee there is no wealth.

Do you want to be happy? Then make your life as soulfully simple As sleeplessly breathing.

My conscience is my crown,Contented thoughts my rest;My heart is happy in itself,My bliss is in my breast.Enough I reckon wealth;A mean the surest lot,That lies too high for base contempt,Too low for envy's shot.

There are lots of ways of being miserable, but there's only one way of being comfortable, and that is to stop running round after happiness. If you make up your mind not to be happy there's no reason why you shouldn't have a fairly good time.

When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subside and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within.

I've excluded happiness as one of those possibilities we seek for ourselves. Oh, I still want it, but that's beside the point. Contentment - they say it's the ultimate, but I can't even wish for that. I don't even want the desire to be content. I can only hope for silence.

To be contented—that’s for the cows.

I'm happy and satisfied with my accomplishments. I sleep well at night.

I feel there's a constant sense of happiness and gratefulness in me.

I don't need much to be happy.

I'm a truly happy person.

Money, to me, is just a mode of transportation that I use to get around but not enough to get me where I really want to be: to a world of bliss and happiness.

And happiness...Well, after all, desires torment us, don't they? And, clearly, happiness is when there are no more desires, not one...What a mistake, what ridiculous prejudice it's been to have marked happiness always with a plus sign. Absolute happiness should, of course, carry a minus sign — the divine minus.