Sydney J. Harris Quotes

I don't like to attach myself to material things.

Possessing by letting go of things was a secret of ownership unknown to youth.

We only possess what we renounce; what we do not renounce escapes from us.

It's not hard to own something. Or everything. You just have to know that it's yours, and then be willing to let it go.

As human beings we have a tendency when we like something to tie it up and make sure it's there for a long time. I've been working on being able to let things go. I don't think I ever want to buy property again.

I don't like possessions.

Let your greatest possession be the ability to let go of any possession, joyfully.

No man can lose what he never had.

The more you own, the more you know you don't own.

I see what happens when one gets very attached to material things. That's just not what my life is.

I'm no Buddhist monk, and I can't say I'm in love with renunciation in itself, or traveling an hour or more to print out an article I've written, or missing out on the N.B.A. Finals. But at some point, I decided that, for me at least, happiness arose out of all I didn't want or need, not all I did.

Complete possession is proved only by giving. All you are unable to give possesses you.

So how can you lose what you've never owned?

I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that's to get rid of all my other desires.

Sometimes it's better to look at things than own them... owning means anxiety and lots of bags to carry around.

Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything.

The more we have the less we own.

I don't hoard things and I don't cling to memories.

Needing nothing really is the ultimate goal. And to have nothing to do with things.

No one owns anything. Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally comes to realize that nothing really belongs to them. And if nothing belongs to me, then there's no point wasting my time looking after things that aren't mine.

Renouncing things is less difficult than people believe: it's all a matter of getting started. Once you've succeeded in dispensing with something you thought essential, you realize you can also do without something else, then without many other things.

Nothing is mine, I have only nothing but it is enough, it is beautiful and it is all mine. Do I even walk about in my own skin or is it something I have borrowed to spare my modesty?

I grew with it, and I used to go to see the monks, who had no possessions, even more extreme than my mother.

It all depends on whether you have things, or they have you.

Why grab possessions like thieves, or divide them like socialists when you can ignore them like wise men?