Quotes on Minimalism to Inspire You

Best Minimalism Quotes

It isn’t always easy to stay inspired while you’re on your journey toward a simpler life.

Living a minimalist lifestyle has so many benefits – from reducing your stress levels to saving you money.

One of my favorite ways to stay motivated is by getting inspiration from others around me!

With the help of these quotes on minimalism, you can use the knowledge of others to help you stay inspired as you declutter your life and focus on gratitude in the future.

Quotes on Minimalism

The path toward a minimalist lifestyle begins with you.

And that means you’ll probably need a little bit of inspiration along the way.

With the help of these inspiring minimalism quotes, you can use the knowledge and insight from others who have walked in your shoes.

With the help of thoughtful comments from philosophers, authors, writers, and famous figures, you can begin to understand why minimalism is so important.

As you read through these motivational quotes, you’ll be able to get the inspiration you need to keep going when the process gets tough.

wise quotes on minimalism

This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission, at no cost to you. Please read the disclosure for more information.

Minimalist Living / Lifestyle Quotes

  • “If our lives are burdened with clutter, we’re giving the best of ourselves away to the things that matter least.” – Erica Layne
  • “One can furnish a room very luxuriously by taking out furniture rather than putting it in.” – Francis Jourdain
  • “Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor – it’s anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living.” – Peter Walsh, Author of Let It Go: Downsizing Your Way to a Richer, Happier Life
  • “You don’t need more space. You need less stuff.” – Joshua Becker
  • “Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris
  • “If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, then this is the best season of your life.” – Wu-Men
  • “You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.” – Vernon Howard
  • “Owning less is better than organizing more.” – Joshua Becker, Author of Things That Matter: Overcoming Distraction to Pursue a More Meaningful Life
  • “If we want more healing and peace in the world, let us each start with our homes, our relationships, our mindsets, and ourselves.” – Lisa J. Shultz
  • “We go on multiplying our conveniences only to multiply our cares. We increase our possessions only to the enlargement of our anxieties.” – Anna C. Brackett
  • “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.” – Benjamin Franklin
  • “People sacrifice too much life to get more stuff.” – James Wallman
  • “The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.” – Marie Kondo, Author of the The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
  • “Minimalists search for happiness not through things, but through life itself; thus, it’s up to you to determine what is necessary and what is superfluous to your life.” – Joshua Fields Millburn
  • “We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.” – Henry David Thoreau
  • “Happiness is not having what you want. It is wanting what you have.” – Rabbi Hyman Schachtel
  • “Purposefully owning less begins to take us out of the unwinnable game of comparison.” – Joshua Becker
  • “Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.” – Edwin Way Teale
  • “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
  • “Minimalism is the pursuit of the essence of things, not the appearance.” – Claudio Silverstrin
  • “You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.” – Louise Smith
  • “If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey
  • “Minimalism is the constant art of editing your life.” – Danny Dover, Author of The Minimalist Mindset: The Practical Path to Making Your Passions a Priority and to Retaking Your Freedom
  • “Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.” – John Ruskin
  • “The most important things in life aren’t things.” – Kenneth Clarke
  • “Everything you buy or own might not necessarily bring you value or meaning to your life. In fact, they might come in your way and distract you from the bigger picture. You will find that simplicity is always better than complexity.” – Summer Andrews

Minimalist Love Quotes

  • “Keep only those things that speak to your heart. Then take the plunge and discard all the rest.” – Marie Kondō
  • “It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.” – Henry David Beecher
  • “Remember, your memories are not stored in the object; the memories are in you.” – Joshua Becker
  • “Be a curator of your life. Slowly cut things out until you’re left only with what you love, with what’s necessary, with what makes you happy.” – Leo Babauta, Author of The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential…in Business and in Life
  • “Collect moments, not things.” – Paulo Coelho
  • “Minimalism isn’t about removing things you love. It’s about removing the things that distract you from the things you love.” – Joshua Becker
  • “The best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to take each item in one’s hand and ask: “Does this spark joy?” If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it. This is not only the simplest but also the most accurate yardstick by which to judge.” – Marie Kondō
  • “I love to go and see all the things I am happy without.” – Socrates

Funny Minimalist Quotes

  • “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” – Will Rogers
  • “A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?” – Albert Einstein
  • “Want to know how to make yourself instantly unhappy? Compare yourself with someone else.” – Fumio Sasaki, Author of Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism
  • “I finally figured it out. Instead of working so hard to make ends meet, work on having fewer ends.” – Courtney Carver
  • “If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more?” – Roy T. Bennett
  • “A common man marvels at uncommon things. A wise man marvels at the commonplace.” – Confucius
  • “Eat, drink and love… the rest is not worth a nickel.” – Lord Byron
  • “I am a minimalist. I like saying the most with the least.” – Bob Newhart

Motivational and Wise Quotes on Minimalism

  • “Minimalism is built around the idea that there’s nothing that you’re lacking.” – Fumio Sasaki
  • “The more you have, the more you are occupied. The less you have, the more free you are.” – Mother Teresa
  • “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” – Jesus Christ
  • “Minimalism isn’t about owning less than you need. It’s about owning exactly what you need.” – Joshua Becker, Author of The Minimalist Home: A Room-by-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life
  • “Buy less, choose well, make it last.” – Vivienne Westwood
  • “It is not daily increase but daily decrease; hack away the unessential.” – Bruce Lee
  • “Clutter is the enemy of clarity.” – Julia Cameron
  • “I’ve learned that minimalism is not about what you own, it’s about why you own it.” – Brian Gardner
  • “I’ve found that the less stuff I own, the less my stuff owns me.” – Nathan W. Morris
  • “There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.” – Jackie French Koller
  • “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  • “I make myself rich by making my wants few.” – Henry David Thoreau
  • “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
  • “Minimalism is asking why before you buy.” – Francine Jay, Author of Lightly: How to Live a Simple, Serene & Stress-Free Life
  • “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.” – Will Rogers
  • “My riches consist, not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants.” – Joseph Brotherton
  • “Poverty is my pride.” – Muhammed
  • “We need much less than we think.” – Maya Angelou
  • “We were a society dying of too much choice.” – Margaret Atwood, Author of The Handmaid’s Tale
  • “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” – Seneca
  • “Edit your life frequently and ruthlessly. It’s your masterpiece after all.” – Nathan W. Morris
  • “Minimalism means not trying to improve perfection.” – Bryant McGill
  • “If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” – Paulo Coelho, Author of The Alchemist, 25th Anniversary: A Fable About Following Your Dream
  • “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” – Socrates
  • “Contentment comes not so much from great wealth as from few wants.” – Epictetus
  • “I would rather own little and see the world, than own the world and see little of it.” – Alexander Sattler
  • “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” – Henry David Thoreau
  • “The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” – Plato
  • “In simplicity there is truth.” – River Phoenix
  • “To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.”     – Buddha

Minimalism Quotes About Simplicity

Minimalism isn’t just about decluttering your home and reducing your waste, it also takes a mindset shift to be successful in your journey.

Learning to enjoy the simple pleasures and be grateful for the things you have is at the core of the minimalist movement.

That means you must go beyond simply decluttering to look deeper inside yourself if you want to make the most of living a minimalist life.

But finding your way toward simplicity isn’t always easy.

If you’re struggling to adapt to a simpler life, why not get some inspiration from a few quotes?

These quotes on simplicity will help you see the virtues of enjoying life’s simple pleasures.

Minimalism Quotes on Simplicity in Life

  • “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
  • “If one’s life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: satisfaction with just enough food, clothing, and shelter to protect yourself from the elements.” – The Dalai Lama, Author of The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
  • “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucious
  • “In order to seek one’s own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.” – Plato
  • “It is the sweet simple things in life which are the real ones after all.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • “Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.” – Charles Dudley Warner
  • “Simplicity is an acquired taste. Mankind, left free, instinctively complicates life.” – Katharine Fullerton Gerould
  • “When you add things into your life that you intrinsically enjoy and take out things that you intrinsically dislike, you wind up liking your life a lot more. This sounds simple on the surface, but simplicity doesn’t always make things easy.” – Alison Cardy
  • “Living simply makes loving simple.” – Bell Hooks
  • “Our joy comes from living our own lives simply – never from demanding that others live simply or from ever making any demands whatsoever upon others.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
  • “Live simply so that others may simply live.” – Elizabeth Ann Seton
  • “Beneath the simplicity lies a deep and profound message. Complexity is often necessary, but unnecessary complexity complicates our lives.” – Dan Ward
  • “Make things as simple as possible but no simpler.” – Albert Einstein
  • “If everything is important, then nothing is.” – Patrick M. Lencioni
  • “Simple pleasures are the last healthy refuge in a complex world.” – Oscar Wilde
  • “The simplest things are overlooked. And yet, it is the simplest things that are the most essential.” – Thomas Lloyd Qualls
  • “Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.” – Isaac Newton

Minimalism Quotes on Simplicity and Values

  • “May you always value the simple little things in Life. For they make a big difference and hence are the most important.” – Omar Cherif
  • “The simplest things are often the truest.” – Richard Bach
  • “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” – Isaac Newton
  • “The Golden Rule is the ultimate model of simplicity: a one-sentence statement so profound that an individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it.” – Chip Heath, Author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
  • “There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.” – Leo Tolstoy
  • “I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.” – Lao Tzu
  • “In character, in manner, in style, in all the things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  • “Nature teaches us simplicity and contentment because in its presence we realize we need very little to be happy.” – Mark Coleman
  • “Simplicity avoids the superficial, penetrates the complex, goes to the heart of the problem and pinpoints the key factors.” – Wilfred Peterson

Minimalism Quotes on Simplicity and Self Love

  • “Simplicity is not the opposite of wealth. It is the door to the riches you already own.” – Alan Cohen
  • “Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.” – Thomas Kempis

Minimalism Quotes on Simplicity, Elegance, and Greatness

  • “Sometimes simplicity and elegance are indistinguishable from each other.” – Amit Kalantri
  • “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” – Coco Chanel
  • “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci
  • “The greatest ideas are the simplest.” – William Golding
  • “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
  • “It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.” – Amelia Barr
  • “Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
  • “Out of chaos, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony.” – Bruce Lee

Related Ideas for Best Minimalist Quotes:

Enjoyed this post?

It would be great if you could share it and follow me on Pinterest and Facebook.

quotes on minimalist

Know of other great quotes on minimalism?

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *