Why grab possessions like thieves, or divide them like socialists when you can ignore them like wise men?
To the illumined man or woman, a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same.
Less is more.
The best things in life aren't things.
Americans are uneasy with their possessions, guilty about power, all of which is difficult for Europeans to perceive because they are themselves so truly materialistic, so versed in the uses of power.
The more we have the less we own.
Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury -- to me these have always been contemptible. I assume that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind
Some men are born to own, and can animate all their possessions. Others cannot: their owning is not graceful; seems to be a compromise of their character: they seem to steal their own dividends.
If I am what I have and if I lose what I have who then am I?
Possession, it is true, crowns exertion with rest; but it is only in the illusions of fancy that it has power to charm us.
I do not have what I own, nor do I have what I do. I only have what I am.
Whatever is not nailed down is mine. What I can pry loose is not nailed down.
To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have.
Once you have decided to keep a certain pile, it is no longer yours; for you can't spend it.
Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.
Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you have to take care of them! There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.
Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
Many possessions, if they do not make a man better, are at least expected to make his children happier; and this pathetic hope is behind many exertions.
How many are the things I can do without!
— Socrates
Do not dismayed daughters, at the number of things which you have to consider before setting out on this divine journey, which is the royal road to heaven. By taking this road we gain such precious treasures that it is no wonder if the cost seems to us a high one. The time will come when we shall realize that all we have paid has been nothing at all by comparison with the greatness of our prizes.
Lay up your treasures in heaven where there is no depreciation.