Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Contrasts inner contentment with the lack caused by luxury.
In plain terms
Being content is wealth; luxury is poverty.
What can you take from it?
Find wealth in contentment not luxury.

Where it applies

  • financial planning
  • minimalism
  • philosophy

Putting it to work

  • reduce wants
  • appreciate enough

Questions to consider

  • What is real wealth?
  • Can luxury bring poverty?

Another view

It dismisses the genuine benefits of material security.

More from Socrates

  1. Call no man unhappy until he is married.

    Permalink to quote #36
  2. Could I climb to the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim, 'Fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, an…

    Permalink to quote #38
  3. By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

    Permalink to quote #35

Related quotes

  1. He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.

    SocratesSocrates quote #50
  2. My wants are many, and, if told, Would muster many a score; And were each wish a mint of gold, I still would want for more.

    John Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy Adams quote #6
  3. Quod siquis vera vitam ratione gubernet, divitiae grandes homini sunt vivere parvo aequo animo; neque enim est umquam penuria parvi.

    LucretiusLucretius quote #22