The state of life is most happy where superfluities are not required and necessities are not wanting.
Interpretation
True happiness comes from having what you need and not desiring excess.
This quote by Plutarch emphasizes the idea that a genuinely happy life does not depend on material excess, but rather on fulfilling basic necessities. It suggests that happiness is found in simplicity and contentment with what one has, rather than in the pursuit of superfluous desires.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about finding joy in simple living.
Sometimes small incidents, rather than glorious exploits, give us the best evidence of character. So, as portrait painters are more exact in doing the face, where the character is revealed, than the rest of the body, I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks of the souls of men.
It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief - the other contempt.
Come back with your shield - or on it
The richest soil, if uncultivated, produces the rankest weeds.
For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.
Our senses through ignorance of Reality, falsely tell us that what appears to be, is. FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
I haven't known 6 days of happiness in my life.
The happiest people I know are people who don't even think about being happy. They just think about being good neighbors, good people. And then happiness sort of sneaks in the back window while they are busy doing good.
To have a cricket on the hearth is the luckiest thing in all the world!
Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word.
The only thing that will make you happy is being happy with who you are, and not who people think you are.
Happiness blooms naturally in the hearts of those who are inwardly free. It flows spontaneously, like a mountain spring after April showers, in minds that are contented with simple living.
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