Judith Matheson > Judith's Quotes

“These... things, householder, are welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world:

Long life is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.

Beauty is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.

Happiness is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.

Status is welcome, agreeable, pleasant, & hard to obtain in the world.

...Now, I tell you, these... things are not to be obtained by reason of prayers or wishes. If they were to be obtained by reason of prayers or wishes, who here would lack them? It's not fitting for the disciple of the noble ones who desires long life to pray for it or to delight in doing so. Instead, the disciple of the noble ones who desires long life should follow the path of practice leading to long life. In so doing, he will attain long life...

[Ittha Sutta, AN 5.43]”
― Buddha

“...status, as in any traditional, class-conscious society, declines more slowly than wealth.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“as the determinants of high status keep shifting, so, too, naturally, will the triggers of status anxiety be altered.”
― Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety

“Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.”
― Coco Chanel

“Luxury lies not in the richness of things, but in the absence of vulgarity”
― Coco Chanel

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
― Oprah Winfrey

“I'm obsessively opposed to the typical.”
― Lady Gaga

“I've always been famous, it's just no one knew it yet.”
― Lady Gaga

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”
― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass