"Small rooms or dwellings set the mind in the right path, large ones cause it to go astray."
—Leonardo da Vinci, MS. 2038, Bib. Nat. 16 r.
"For my part, as I grow older I am more and more inclined to reduce my baggage, to lop off superfluities. I become more and more in love with simple things and simple folk—a small house, a hut in the woods, a tent on the shore. The show and splendor of great houses, elaborate furnishings, stately halls, oppress me, impose upon me. They fix the attention upon false values, they set up a false standard of beauty; they stand between me and the real feeders of character and thought."
—John Burroughs, The Gospel of Nature
"Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement."
—William Morris, The Prospects of Architecture
"There is an old story about a famous rabbi living in Europe who was visited one day by a man who had traveled by ship from New York to see him. The man came to the great rabbi's dwelling, a large house on a street in a European city, and was directed to the rabbi's room, which was in the attic. He entered to find the master living in a room with a bed, a chair, and a few books. The man expected much more. After greetings, he asked, 'Rabbi, where are your things?' The rabbi asked in return, 'Well, where are yours?' His visitor replied, 'But, Rabbi, I'm only passing through,' and the master answered, 'So am I, so am I.'"
—Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart
"Turn yourself into gold and then live wherever you please."
—Sri Ramakrishna, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
/misc | Aug 20, 2010