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Attribution note
Floated as inspirational Gandhi but absent from every Gandhi primary; the balanced Victorian-maxim phrasing is unlike Gandhi's idiom, so attribution is unsupported.
Likely origin: No Gandhi primary; reads as a 19th-century English moralist aphorism; not found in CWMG or Wikiquote.
Review the attribution sourceAbout this quote
Chasing more money and status tends to reset your baseline the moment you arrive, so the wanting never ends. Redirecting attention toward small, repeatable pleasures and inner steadiness gives you something that compounds instead of evaporating on the next purchase.
When to use it
- Someone turns down a promotion that would double their travel time, keeping evenings free for a hobby they love.
- A family cancels a costly resort trip and spends the week cooking and hiking near home instead.
- A worker stops upgrading their phone every year and puts the saved money toward a weekly music lesson.