Saturday, May 23, 2009

within limits



“To live within limits, to want one thing, or a very few things, very much and love them dearly, cling to them, survey them from every angle, become one with them—that is what makes the poet, the artist, the human being.”

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, philosopher, polymath


4 comments:

Abhishek said...

To live within limits... Doesn't that restrict us. I mean where's the freedom to go out and explore new things .. New experiences... May be i missed the point.. MY BAD

Stephen Lyn Bales said...

Hello friend Aby.

Thank you for your comment. I hope you are well.

What I think resonates about this quote from Goethe, is in the Thoreauian sense of living modestly within your economic means, within limits. America is going through an economic crisis mostly because people were not living within limits, they were living way beyond their means, spending too much, charging too much. People are losing their houses because they bought too expensive of a house in the first place. Thoreau would say, live simply, modestly, only take what you need and nothing more because you will spend your entire life working to pay for things you really didn’t need.

To live within limits doesn’t mean you cannot learn, explore, discover. IN fact, you have greater freedom because you do not need to work as many hours and have more time off to enjoy life.

OK?

Anonymous said...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe may only have lived from 11 minutes to 6 until 28 minutes to 7, but boy did he learn fast.
A timely reminder, Stephen.

Stephen Lyn Bales said...

Yes indeed Rambling. He did.

It's good to hear from you again.