« L’extraordinaire nous attire un instant, la simplicité nous retientplus longtemps, parce que c’est en elle seule que résidel’essentiel. »
de Garry Winogrand
« La simplicité n’est pas un but dans l’art, mais on arrive à la simplicité malgré soi en s’approchant du sens réel des choses. » Constantin Brancusi
« Qu’il faille faire des efforts quasiment héroïques pour vivre décemment (c’est-à-dire sans contribuer en permanence à l’exploitation éhontée et au pillage des sociétés humaines et de leur environnement) devrait permettre à tout le monde de comprendre qu’il y a quelque chose de pourri au royaume de la marchandise … » Amiech et Mattern, Le cauchemar de Don Quichotte.
« […] L’homme n’est pas ici-bas pour produire et pour consommer. Produire et consommer n’aura jamais été que l’accessoire, il s’agit d’être et de sentir que l’on existe, le reste nous ravale au rang de fourmis, de termites et d’abeilles. » Albert Caraco, Bréviaire du chaos.
« Nous devons refuser de nous plier à la manie de l’acquisition, et du changement à tout prix. Quand on est heureux, quand on est amoureux, on a pas envie de changer. Le changement permanent est un signe d’insatisfaction. » Majid Rahnema, cité par Casseurs de pub n° 23.
« Être riche se réduit aujourd’hui à posséder un grand nombre d’objets pauvres. » Raoul Vaneigem,Traité de savoir vivre.
Avec ce que nous savons aujourd’hui de la biologie des comportements, je suis effrayé par les automatismes qu’il est possible de créer à son insu dans le système nerveux de l’enfant. Il lui faudra dans sa vie d’adulte une chance exceptionnelle pour s’évader de cette prison, s’il y parvient jamais! » Henri Laborit (1914-1995 ), Éloge de la fuite
“La propension dynamique qui dirige l’activité et guide l’action, induit une valeur de fécondité: ne rien faire, ne rien entreprendre, ne rien accepter qui n’ai valeur d’engendrement, de construction vitale, de production d’intelligence et de connaissance. Une activité est éthique que si elle est créative, productrice de valeurs, contributrice à l’accomplissement cosmique et à la prolifération de la Vie et de l’Esprit. ” Marc Halévy.
Avec peu, on peut vivre le présent à l’infini.
La simplicité, c’est l’harmonie parfaite entre le beau, l’utile et le juste. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
« Le bonheur, c’est de continuer à désirer ce qu’on possède. » Saint Augustin
“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, to all bravely await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.”
― William Henry Channing
George Carlin
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but
shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more,
but have less; we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and
smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees
but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more
problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little,
drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too
little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our
possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and
hate too often.
We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to
life not life to years.
George Carlin
“The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds.” Dalai Lama
All you need is less
The less you own, the less that owns you
Small homes grow tight families
less stuff. less work. less expense. equals. more money. more time. more joy. less equals more.
Find joy in the ordinary.
Be the change ( main )
Never let the things you want let you forget the things you have.
Live with less.
Less is more manifesto
I will stop buying things for the sake of it, and look instead for where the best things in life are free at the point of need. In the meantime, I will examine the things that I call “my” own, and will start to give things away, at a pace I can sustain. I will improve my quality of life without trying to buy it. Brian Draper
The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give.
But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us
is a freedom. It is not a mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom.
There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy. Mother teresa
“To live sustainably, we must live efficiently – not misdirecting or squandering the earth’s precious resources. To live efficiently, we must live peacefully for military expenditures represent an enormous diversion of resources from meeting basic human needs. To live peacefully, we must live with a reasonable degree of equity, or fairness, for it is unrealistic to think that, in a communications-rich world, a billion people will except living in absolute poverty while another billion live in conspicuous excess.”
― Duane Elgin
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” ~ Confucius
“Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.” ~ Plato
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci
“Simplicity is the glory of expression.” ~ Walt Whitman
“Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” ~ William James
“Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.” ~ Thor Heyerdahl
“Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.”~ Edwin Way Teale
“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.” ~ Lao Tzu
“Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.” ~ Charles Warner
“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” ~ Socrates
“The waste of life occasioned by trying to do too many things at once is appalling.” ~ Orison Marden
“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.” ~ Bruce Lee
“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.” ~ Frederic Chopin
“Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.” ~ Martin H. Fischer
“It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.” ~ William of Occam
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” ~ William Morris
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” ~ Hans Hofmann
“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.” ~ Leo Tolstoy
“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” ~ Albert Einstein
“Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information.” ~ Edward Tuft
“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.” ~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“How many things are there which I do not want.” ~ Socrates
“Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury…to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind.” ~ Albert Einstein
“Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more.” ~ John Kabat-Zinn
“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” ~ Lin Yutang
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius…and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” ~ E.F. Schumacher
“Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” ~ Lao Tzu
« Vivre et se contenter de peu; rechercher l’élégance plutôt que le luxe, et le raffinement plutôt que la mode; être digne plutôt que connu, et être prospère plutôt que riche; écouter les étoiles et les oiseaux, les enfants et les sages, avec le coeur ouvert; étudier beaucoup, penser posément, agir avec honnêteté, parler gentiment; attendre les occasions, ne jamais se presser; en un mot, laisser le spirituel, spontané et inconscient, grandir à travers le commun – telle est ma symphonie. » -William Henry Channing -
« N’importe quel imbécile intelligent peut rendre les choses plus grandes, plus complexes et plus violentes. Il faut une touche de génie – et beaucoup de courage – pour aller dans la direction opposée. » – E.F. Schumacker -