Natalie Clifford Barney Quotes

It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.

I am totally unattached to material items.

Real freedom is having nothing. I was freer when I didn't have a cent.

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

The more we have the less we own.

Diogenes found more rest in his tub than Alexander on his throne.

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.

The older I get, the less I need. I wear the same jean shorts for the whole week. I'm not running to the store to get the latest bag.

India profoundly changed my outlook on life because you see how people can be content and very happy with little or even no possessions. It's the reverse of the West.

Very early on in life, I decided the hell with it: material things weren't for me. Christmas would come, and other kids would have all these presents, and it wouldn't bother me a bit.

I don't like possessions.

One day there springs up the desire for money and for all that money can provide — the superfluous, luxury in eating, luxury in dressing, trifles. Needs increase because one thing calls for another. The result is uncontrollable dissatisfaction. Let us remain as empty as possible so that God can fill us up.

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

The shortest road to wealth lies in the contempt of wealth.

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

You may have occasion to possess or use material things, but the secret of life lies in never missing them.

True security lies not in the things one has, but in the things one can do without.

Diogenes carried a bowl with him for years, but one day saw a man drinking from his cupped palm and declared, ‘I have been a fool, burdened all these years by the weight of a bowl when a perfectly good vessel lay at the end of my wrist.

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

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

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.

The American dream is a crock. Stop wanting everything. Everyone should wear jeans and have three T-shirts, eat rice and beans.

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.

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