Simplicity means choosing to live with less so what stays gets your full attention. Slow living means doing things at a human pace instead of a rushed one. These 12 quotes about simplicity and slow living are paired with one small way to use each idea this week, because a quote you only read is a quote you never used.
I kept a list of these for years before I understood why half of them did nothing. Reading them felt productive and changed nothing. The ones that stuck were the ones I turned into a specific action, usually something dull and small, like deciding the weekly menu on Sunday or deleting eleven apps.
One note before we start, because it matters on a quote site: several sayings that circulate as “simplicity quotes” have no traceable author. Those appear here as Unknown. A wrong name would be a small lie, and this list would lose the only thing it has going for it.
Table of Contents
- 1Quotes About Simplicity and Slow Living at a Glance
- 2What Slow Living Is (and Isn’t)
- 3Why quotes about simplicity and slow living are easy to collect and hard to use
- 41. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Leonardo da Vinci
- 52. “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak” – Hans Hofmann
- 63. “The most wasted of all resources is time” – Mahatma Gandhi
- 74. “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you” – Anne Lamott
- 85. “It is not that we have little time, but more that we waste a good deal of it” – Seneca
- 96. “Enjoy the simple things in life” – traditional Japanese proverb
- 107. “Simplicity is the consequence of refined emotions” – Jean D’Alembert
- 118. “The deeper you go into the life of simplicity, the more clearly you see the essential things” – Unknown
- 129. “Live in the sunshine” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
- 1310. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts” – Marcus Aurelius
- 1411. “What we do now echoes in eternity” – Marcus Aurelius
- 1512. “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast” – military adage
- 16Frequently Asked Questions
- 17What is the difference between simplicity and slow living?
- 18Is minimalism the same as living simply?
- 19Why are so many simplicity quotes misattributed online?
- 20How do I use quotes about simplicity and slow living without just bookmarking them?
- 21Can I start living more slowly with a full schedule and young kids?
Quotes About Simplicity and Slow Living at a Glance
Here is the whole list in one view: the thinker, what the line is really saying, and the one move it suggests.
| Quote | Thinker | Core message | One move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication | Leonardo da Vinci | Restraint reads as refinement | Simplify one recurring decision |
| Eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak | Hans Hofmann | Less clutter, louder priorities | Clear half your notifications |
| The most wasted of all resources is time | Mahatma Gandhi | Time is the real currency | Protect one unscheduled hour |
| Almost everything will work again if you unplug it | Anne Lamott | Stepping away is maintenance | Take one device-free meal |
| We waste a good deal of the time we have | Seneca | Time is spent, not found | Plan the day in five minutes |
| Enjoy the simple things in life | Traditional proverb | Ordinary routines are the point | Walk without headphones once |
| Simplicity is the consequence of refined emotions | Jean D’Alembert | Calm clears the choices | Cut one commitment and one purchase |
| The deeper you go into simplicity, the clearer the essentials | Unknown | Simplicity reveals priorities | Name your three tasks for the week |
| Live in the sunshine | H. Jackson Brown Jr. | Attention turns up the volume | Name one thing worth appreciating |
| Happiness depends upon the quality of your thoughts | Marcus Aurelius | Pace changes interpretation | Pause ten seconds before reacting |
| What we do now echoes in eternity | Marcus Aurelius | Match actions to long values | Delay one purchase 30 days |
| Slow is smooth and smooth is fast | Military adage | Deliberate routines save time | Prep the night before |
What Slow Living Is (and Isn’t)
Slow living gets reduced to an aesthetic pretty fast: linen, warm light, a wooden bowl nobody uses for anything. Regulars on r/simpleliving push back on that hard, and their version is more useful. They describe it as a practice of noticing, not a possessions count.
That matches what I see. Owning fewer things changes nothing if you still scroll through your evening. Doing one thing instead of five changes something almost immediately, even on a bad week.
Why quotes about simplicity and slow living are easy to collect and hard to use
A quote has no resistance in it. You read it, you feel briefly clarified, you move on. The resistance is in the ten minutes it takes to actually clear the notification list, and that is the part nobody puts on a wall.
Andre Huxley put the darker side of the idea better than the cheerful ones do: “The love of simplicity is an escapist drug, like alcohol.” He was not against simplicity. He was against using it as a way to avoid looking at the harder things.
1. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Leonardo da Vinci
Da Vinci’s line argues that the hardest, most disciplined work often arrives as something plain. Nothing decorative, nothing extra, nothing to prove.
Try it on one recurring decision. If you decide what to eat for dinner every evening at six, you are making forty small choices a week. Pick a rotation of three meals you genuinely like, write it on the inside of a cupboard door, and stop re-deciding. That is the quote applied, and it costs nothing.
2. “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak” – Hans Hofmann
Hofmann was talking about painting, but the mechanism is the same. Remove what competes and the important thing stops having to shout.
Most people’s phones are the loudest competitor in the room. Open your notification settings and turn off everything that is not a direct message from a human being. Marketing, app badges, news pushes, group chat mutters. Most people find this takes under five minutes and changes the texture of a week.
3. “The most wasted of all resources is time” – Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi wrote this in his autobiography, and the sharper reading is that time is the only resource you cannot get back or store. Everything else can be replaced, reorganized or repaired later.
Leave one hour a day unscheduled. Not a break, not self-care with a name on it. Just an hour with nothing in it, defended on the calendar so nobody books over it. People who try this usually report the strangest part is how quickly they stop wanting to fill it.
4. “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you” – Anne Lamott
Lamott is joking about appliances and not joking at all about people. Most of what feels broken is a system running hot with no cooling.
Make one meal a day device-free. No phone on the table, no cooking show on the screen, no eating while reading. It takes about twenty minutes and it is the cheapest reset I know. A walk without headphones does the same thing and costs less still.
5. “It is not that we have little time, but more that we waste a good deal of it” – Seneca
Seneca was writing about mortality, but the observation is about attention. A long day with no attention in it feels short afterwards, and a short day spent on one thing feels long.
Run a five-minute morning ritual: three things you will finish today, in order, on one card. People who keep this card in the same spot, a kitchen counter or the front of a notebook, stop starting the day by reacting to whatever arrived first.
6. “Enjoy the simple things in life” – traditional Japanese proverb
The proverb has no single fixed English wording, which is why it is often repeated loosely. The idea is stable though: the ordinary routines are not waiting for something better to happen.
Take one walk a day without audio and without a destination. Fifteen minutes. Notice how many things you would have missed at speed. Then eat one meal sitting down, at a table, tasting the first three bites before saying anything about your day.
7. “Simplicity is the consequence of refined emotions” – Jean D’Alembert
D’Alembert put the cause before the effect. He is saying calm arrives first, and the simpler life follows from it, not the other way around.
Sit down once with two lists: the commitments you are keeping and the things you bought recently. Cross off one from each that nobody would notice missing. Do it in one sitting, not over a month. The point is the visible list, not the gradual erosion.
8. “The deeper you go into the life of simplicity, the more clearly you see the essential things” – Unknown
No source credits this to a named writer, and it is quoted across the internet with one attached. Unknown is the honest answer.
The exercise it suggests takes ten minutes. Look at everything you have on your plate this week and name the three that would still matter if everything else vanished. Everything else moves to a second list for next week. Most people find the three are shorter than they feared and more specific than they assumed.
9. “Live in the sunshine” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Brown’s line is short enough to sound like filler and it is not. Attention is the scarce part. Direct it at something ordinary and that thing becomes interesting.
Every evening, name one thing worth appreciating before you turn the light off. It can be small and specific: the light on the kitchen wall at four, the sound of your street on a Sunday, a meal that turned out well. Specific beats abstract, because your brain cannot picture “something nice”.
10. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts” – Marcus Aurelius
Aurelius wrote for a man who ran an empire and had a great deal of provocation. The relevance to an inbox is obvious.
Slow down at the moment of reaction, not the whole day. Ten seconds before you answer the message that made you angry. Nine times out of ten the reply you would have sent is worse than the problem, and the pause costs nothing.
11. “What we do now echoes in eternity” – Marcus Aurelius
This line is often attributed to Aurelius and appears in collections of his reflections, though its exact origin is debated. Take the sentiment and leave the certainty behind.
Apply it to one small purchase. When you want something, write it down and wait thirty days. Most of the time the desire has cooled and the money went to something you were actually looking at. It is the least dramatic test of whether your spending matches what you say you value.
12. “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast” – military adage
This one is not about leisure at all. It comes from the idea that careful, repeatable routines beat improvisation under pressure. That is a productivity claim wearing a philosophy costume.
Prep the night before. Set out your clothes, decide the first task, lay the keys where you will trip over them. People who do this lose about ten minutes a morning and stop starting every day from scratch. A Sunday night of meal planning does the same thing for four evenings.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between simplicity and slow living?
Simplicity is about how much is in your life: fewer possessions, fewer commitments, less noise. Slow living is about tempo: doing things at a human pace rather than a rushed one. You can have a very simple life at full speed, and you can live slowly in a cluttered house. Most people who struggle with this topic want both, and the slower half usually does more work.
Is minimalism the same as living simply?
Not quite. Minimalism is a design approach about removing objects and visual clutter. Simple living is broader and often has little to do with what you own. Someone with a small home, no hobbies and a packed calendar can be a minimalist and be living the opposite of a simple life. The question worth asking is not how few things you have but how much attention your days are getting.
Why are so many simplicity quotes misattributed online?
Because unattributed lines travel better than credited ones. A quote gets screenshotted, dropped onto a poster, and picked up by the next account that sees it with a name attached. This list credits Unknown when no source can be traced, and marks a line as widely attributed when its origin is debated. Slower circulation is the point, not a personality flaw.
How do I use quotes about simplicity and slow living without just bookmarking them?
Turn one into one action you can finish in under ten minutes. Clear half your notifications, name the three tasks that matter this week, or delete the apps you open out of habit. A quote that produces a decision is worth more than ten you read and liked. Pick one line a month and do the small thing it describes.
Can I start living more slowly with a full schedule and young kids?
Yes, because most of what slows a day down is a change in edges rather than a change in workload. Try a device-free meal, a short walk, or a morning where you decide the first three tasks before you open anything. Slow living on a crowded schedule usually means protecting one small thing rather than rebuilding the whole week.
Start with one. Not all twelve. Pick the line that landed, do the small thing it describes, and leave the other eleven alone until next month. If you want more on the practice rather than the phrases, most readers on the r/simpleliving side of this conversation recommend reading In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honoré and Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang before they buy anything else on the subject.
