Contentment

Oh, bring again my heart's content,
Thou Spirit of the Summer-time!
~ William Allingham, Song

Masters have wrought in prisons,
At peace in cells of stone;
From their thick walls I fashion
Windows to light my own.
~ Karle Wilson Baker, Prisons

I am told by all who know me that my personal appearance greatly improved, and that I seem to bear the stamp of good health; this may be a matter of opinion or friendly remark, but I can honestly assert that I feel restored in health, "bodily and mentally," appear to have more muscular power and vigour, eat and drink with a good appetite, and sleep well.
~ William Banting, Letter On Corpulence, Addressed to the Public. Fourth Edition (1869).

Who says that men have fallen,
That life is wretched and rough?
I say, the world is lovely,
And that loveliness is enough.
~ Robert Williams Buchanan, in London Poems (1866). Artist and Model

I get satisfaction of three kinds. One is creating something, one is being paid for it and one is the feeling that I haven't just been sitting on my ass all afternoon.
~ William F. Buckley, Jr.

A full belly to the labourer was, in my opinion, the foundation of public morals and the only source of real public peace.
~ William Cobbett, in The Autobiography of William Cobbett: The Progress of a Plough-boy to a Seat in Parliament (1933).

But tonight, the lion of contentment
has placed a warm, heavy paw on my chest,
And I can only close my eyes and listen
to the drums of woe throbbing in the distance.
~ Billy Collins, The Art of Drowning (1995). Osso Buco

Few men by their death can have given such deep satisfaction to so many.
~ Sir William Connor (Cassandra), The Daily Mirror (1953). Farewell to Joseph Stalin

He that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contently between
The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door.
~ William Cowper, Translation of Horace, Book II, Ode X, To Licinius

To thee for help I call;
I stand upon a mountain's edge,
Oh save me, lest I fall!
~ William Cowper, from Olney Hymns (1779). Book III: On the Rise, Progress, Changes, and Comforts of the Spiritual Life. Lively Hope, and Gracious Fear

I'm comfortable being old . . . being black . . . being Jewish.
~ Billy Crystal

What sweet contentments doth the soul enjoy by the senses!
~ William Drummond (of Hawthornden), The Cypress Grove (1623).

There is a softness and a harmony in the words and in the thought unparalleled. Of all conceits it is surely the most classical. "I count only the hours that are serene."
~ William Hazlitt, On a Sun-Dial (1827).

We are never so much disposed to quarrel with others as when we are dissatisfied with ourselves.
~ William Hazlitt, Characteristics: in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims (1823).

We are not satisfied to be right, unless we can prove others to be quite wrong.
~ William Hazlitt, Note-Books (1856)

And from the west,
Where the sun, his day's work ended,
Lingers as in content,
There falls on the old, grey city
An influence luminous and serene,
A shining peace.
~ William Ernest (W.E.) Henley, Margaritæ Sorori

I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact . . . It seems to me I've got all I want.
~ William Wymark ("W.W.") Jacobs, The Monkey's Paw (1902).

I've only felt content a few times in my life, and it never lasted. I'm very discontented right now. There are situations in my life that didn't pan out. I'm like most other human beings. I try and I fail.
~ Billy Joel, The New York Times Magazine (15 September 2002). The Stranger

Calmness comes ever from within. It is the peace and restfulness of the depths of our nature. The fury of storm and of wind agitate only the surface of the sea; they can penetrate only two or three hundred feet, -- below that is the calm, unruffled deep. To be ready for the great crises of life we must learn serenity in our daily living. Calmness is the crown of self-control.
~ William George Jordan, The Majesty of Calmness (1900). The Majesty of Calmness

There are times when a man should be content with what he has, but never with what he is.
~ William George Jordan, The Majesty of Calmness (1900). The Royal Road to Happiness

There should be calmness. Hold fast. Go slow.
~ William Quan Judge (reported last words on 21 March 1896), Quoted in Sunrise magazine (April/May 1996).

I do not confer praise or blame: I accept. I am the measure of all things. I am the centre of the world.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage (1915).

I'm a sensitive guy. I don't want to be brought down, so I just leave it at that. As long as there's good and bad, it evens itself out.
~ Billy Mays, The Seattle Times (25 December 2002). Pitchman Billy Mays gives Orange its Glo

Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it's a small price to pay for living a dream.
~ Peter McWilliams

It is difficult to give children a sense of security unless you have it yourself. If you have it, they catch it from you.
~ Dr. William C. Menninger

The amount of satisfaction you get from life depends largely on your own ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and resourcefulness.
~ Dr. William C. Menninger

I would be satisfied with more money and less prospects.
~ Wilson Mizner

Contentment preserves one even from catching cold. Has a woman who knew that she was well-dressed ever caught cold? -- No, not even when she had scarcely a rag to her back.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1888). Maxims and Missiles

Discontent is the seed of ethics.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

To make the individual uncomfortable, that is my task.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

I really have a secret satisfaction in being considered rather mad.
~ William Heath Robinson

Security is an attempt to try to make the universe static so that we feel safe.
~ Anne Wilson Schaef, Native Wisdom for White Minds (1995).

Contentment is the best food to preserve a sound man, and the best medicine to restore a sick man.
~ William Secker, from The Nonsuch Professor in His Meridian Splendor, or the Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians (1660).

Contentment will make a cottage look as fair as a palace.
~ William Secker, from The Nonsuch Professor in His Meridian Splendor, or the Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians (1660).

A cosy cottage in the sun,
A pleasant page to read --
You'll find when all is said and done,
That's nearly all you need.
~ Robert William Service, from Rhymes of a Roughneck (1950). The Summing Up

For I have found it wise in life
To take the luck the way it's coming;
A wake, a worry or a wife --
Just carry on and keep a-humming. . . .
~ Robert William Service, from Rhymes of a Roughneck (1950). Contentment

But since all is well, keep it so: wake not a sleeping wolf.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part II. Act I, scene ii

Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29

For mine own part,
I could be well content
To entertain the lag-end of my life
With quiet hours.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I

He is well paid that is well satisfied.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,
Here grow no damned drugs, here are no storms,
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep:
In peace and honour rest you here, my sons!
~ William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus. Act I, scene i

I swear 'tis better to be lowly born,
And range with humble livers in content,
Than to be perked up in a glistering grief,
And wear a golden sorrow.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VIII. Act II, scene iii

My crown is called content:
A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part III. Act III, scene i

Now is the winter of our discontent.
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III. Act I, scene i

Thou art the Mars of malcontents.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor

The eye must be easy, before it can be pleased.
~ William Shenstone, from Works in verse and prose (1764). Unconnected Thoughts on Gardening

Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero (1847-8). Vol. II, Chapter 27

Away from the world and its toils and its cares,
I've a snug little kingdom up four pair of stairs.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Cane-Bottom'd Chair. Stanza 1

Everybody in Vanity Fair must have remarked how well those live who are comfortably and thoroughly in debt; how they deny themselves nothing; how jolly and easy they are in their minds.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero (1847-8). Vol. I, Chapter 22

Contentment with earthly goods is the mark of a saint; contentment with our spiritual state is a mark of inward blindness.
~ Aiden Wilson (A.W.) Tozer, The Root of the Righteous (1955). Chapter 15: Our Enemy Contentment

Be not content with the commonplace in character any more than with the commonplace in ambition or intellectual attainment. Do not expect that you will make any lasting or very strong impression on the world through intellectual power without the use of an equal amount of conscience and heart.
~ William Jewett Tucker

Restlessness and excitement betray weakness; tranquillity is a quality that belongs to solid virtue.
~ W. (William) Bernard Ullathorne, from The Little Book of Humility and Patience (1900). On the Nature of Christian Virtue

I don't get excited, I get satisfaction.
~ Brigadier General (ret.) Wilma L. Vaught (on celebrating the Women in Military Service for America Memorial), The Washington Post (17 October 1997). A Snappy Salute to a General

Rest we content if whispers from the stars.
~ William Watson, from Epigrams of Art, Life and Nature (1884).

For one rich moment, opulent indeed,
I walked with Krishna, Buddha, and the Christ,
And felt the full serenity of God.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in Picked Poems (1912). On Seeing the Daibutsu -- At Kamakura, Japan (1912)

From the hills of Doubt no winds are blowing,
From the isles of Pain no breeze is sent, --
Only the sun in a white heat glowing
Over an ocean of great content.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Midsummer

The splendid discontent of God
With chaos, made the world.
And, from the discontent of man
The world's best progress springs.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Discontent

From our earliest lessons that not everything is within our control, to this very moment, most of us are in a neverending battle with our own discomfort.
~ Angel Kyodo Williams, Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness and Grace (2000).

One of the biggest things I've done is learn how to love myself, flaws and all. Even the things I don't like about myself, I accept. People have made fun of me and made me self-conscious about talking so softly, for example, but I accept that as who I am and I'm not changing it for anybody. I'm at peace with who I am now, and once you've achieved that, all the other stuff disappears.
~ Ricky Williams, ESPN The Magazine (16 September 2002). Redemption Song

I can't become satisfied, because if I get satisfied, I'll be like, "Oh, I've won Wimbledon, I've won the U.S. Open. Now can I relax." But now people are really going to be fighting to beat me.
~ Serena Williams, The Associated Press (27 December 2002). Serena Named AP Female Athlete of Year

Security is a kind of death.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, in Esquire Magazine (September 1971).

Fill your mind with the meaningless stimuli of a world preoccupied with meaningless things, and it will not be easy to feel peace in your heart.
~ Marianne Williamson

A man must have some inner satisfaction
whose gold is not the measure of the world.
~ Gill Robb Wilson, from The Airman's World (1957). Patterns

Leave it to others to be perfect, to be wonderful. Be content with what you are.
~ Paul Wilson, The Little Book of Calm (1996).

While our hearts are pure,
Our lives are happy and our peace is sure.
~ William Winter, The Emotion of Sympathy (1856).

Dust as we are, the immortal spirit grows
Like harmony in music; there is a dark
Inscrutable workmanship that reconciles
Discordant elements, makes them cling together
In one society.
~ William Wordsworth, The Prelude (1805). Book I: Introduction -- Childhood and School-time

Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will.
~ William Wordsworth, Lines Composed upon Westminster Bridge (Sept. 3, 1802).

No fears to beat away, no strife to heal, --
The past unsighed for, and the future sure.
~ William Wordsworth, Laodamia (1814).

Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room;
And hermits are contented with their cells.
~ William Wordsworth, Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent's Narrow Room (1807).

Soft is the music that would charm for ever;
The flower of sweetest smell is shy and lowly.
~ William Wordsworth, Not Love, not War, nor the Tumultuous Swell (1823).

I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man's ditch,
A blind man battering blind men.
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933). A Dialogue of Self and Soul

I call on those that call me son,
Grandson, or great-grandson,
On uncles, aunts, great-uncles or great-aunts,
To judge what I have done.
Have I, that put it into words,
Spoilt what old loins have sent?
~ William Butler Yeats, from New Poems (1938). Are You Content?