The apex of my civic pride and personal contentment was reached on the bright September morning when I entered the public school.

In the evening of the first day my father conducted us to the public baths.

His struggle for a bare living left him no time to take advantage of the public evening school. In time he learned to read, to follow a conversation or lecture; but he never learned to write correctly; and his pronunciation remains extremely foreign to this day.

One positive command he gave us: You shall love and honor your emperor. In every congregation a prayer must be said for the czar's health, or the chief of police would close the synagogue.

The czar always got his dues, no matter if it ruined a family.

Our mothers are racked with the pains of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the longer pains of our spiritual growth.

We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later; and the birth and growth of the spirit, in those who are attentive to their own inner life, are slow and exceedingly painful.

The first meal was an object lesson of much variety. My father produced several kinds of food, ready to eat, without any cooking, from little tin cans that had printing all over them.

The apex of my civic pride and personal contentment was reached on the bright September morning when I entered the public school.

The czar was always sending us commands - you shall not do this and you shall not do that - till there was very little left that we might do, except pay tribute and die.

If education, culture, the higher life were shining things to be worshiped from afar, he had still a means left whereby he could draw one step nearer to them.

You heard on all sides that the brightest Jewish children were turned down if the examining officers did not like the turn of their noses.

No, the czar did not want us in the schools.

There was one public school for boys, and one for girls, but Jewish children were admitted in limited numbers - only ten to a hundred; and even the lucky ones had their troubles.

You went up to be examined with the other Jewish children, your heart heavy about that matter of your nose.

As we moved along in a little procession, I was delighted with the illumination of the streets. So many lamps, and they burned until morning, my father said, and so people did not need to carry lanterns.

On a royal birthday every house must fly a flag, or the owner would be dragged to a police station and be fined twenty-five rubles.

I am sensible of the velocity of the moments, and entering that part of my head alert to the motion of the world I am aware that life was never perfect, never absolute. This bestows contentment, even a fearlessness.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

Happiness, contentment, the health and growth of the soul, depend, as men have proved over and over again, upon some simple issue, some single turning of the soul.

Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy.

One often learns more from ten days of agony than from ten years of contentment.

Alas! if the principles of contentment are not within us, the height of station and worldly grandeur will as soon add a cubit to a man's stature as to his happiness.

The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment.

Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.

As to that leisure evening of life, I must say that I do not want it. I can conceive of no contentment of which toil is not to be the immediate parent.

A youthful mind is seldom totally free from ambition; to curb that, is the first step to contentment, since to diminish expectation is to increase enjoyment.

One should either be sad or joyful. Contentment is a warm sty for eaters and sleepers.

True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.

In contentment and joy are found the height and perfection of all love towards our neighbor.

There is greatness in the fear of God, contentment in faith of God, and honour in humility.

Whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.

The apex of my civic pride and personal contentment was reached on the bright September morning when I entered the public school.

Contentment is, after all, simply refined indolence.

True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare.

From labour health, from health contentment spring; contentment opes the source of every joy.

Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.

There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.

There is no end of craving. Hence contentment alone is the best way to happiness. Therefore, acquire contentment.

Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plan living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. Man's happiness really lies in contentment.

Contentment consist not in adding more fuel, but in taking away some fire.

True humility is contentment.

Yet better for one of my nature to have it that way than to have life a peaceful, placid flow of quiet contentment. I must have days of rushing excitement.

One often learns more from ten days of agony than ten years of contentment.

This happiness consisted of nothing else but the harmony of the few things around me with my own existence, a feeling of contentment and well-being that needed no changes and no intensification.

We may pass violets looking for roses. We may pass contentment looking for victory.

True contentment comes with empathy.

Contentment does not come from achievement.

Contentment is the only real wealth.