Discontent Quotes

• All our discontents about what we want appeared to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.

  Daniel Defoe

  Thank You, Spring, Thankfulness

  Daniel Defoe (1815). “Crusoe, written by himself [by D. Defoe”, p.125

  40 Copy quote

  Show source

• He that is discontented in one place will seldom be happy in another.

  Aesop

  Happiness, Attitude

  Aesop, Thomas James (1872). “Aesop's Fables: A New Version, Chiefly from Original Sources”, p.83

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, 'Oh yes - I already have everything that I really need.'

  Dalai Lama

  Being Happy, Practice, Contentment

  13 Copy quote

• It is not our circumstances that create our discontent or contentment. It is us.

  Vivien Greene

  Inspirational, Soulmate, Contentment

  19 Copy quote

• Woman's discontent increases in exact proportion to her development.

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton

  Development, Increase, Proportion

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan Brownell Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Ida Husted Harper (1889). “History of woman suffrage”

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• Discontent is the first necessity of progress.

  Thomas A. Edison

  Inspirational, Motivational, Happiness

  "The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison". Book by Thomas A. Edison, 1948.

  27 Copy quote

  Show source

• Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.

  Oscar Wilde

  Life, Men, Progress

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “Epigrams of Oscar Wilde”, p.65, Wordsworth Editions

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Happiness, Men, Liberty

  Benjamin Franklin (2012). “Wit and Wisdom from Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.4, Courier Corporation

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing.

  Kenneth Grahame

  Spring, Moving, Dark

  Kenneth Grahame (1908). “The Wind in the Willows”, p.1

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• The splendid discontent of God With chaos made the world. And from the discontent of man The worlds best progress springs.

  Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  God, Spring, Men

  Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1901). “Every-day Thoughts in Prose and Verse”

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.

  Thomas A. Edison

  Inspirational, Motivational, Failure

  "The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison". Book by Thomas A. Edison, 1948.

  34 Copy quote

  Show source

• Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776.

  Susan B. Anthony

  Men, Uprising, Feminist

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Harriot Stanton Blatch, Matilda Gage (2017). “HISTORY OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE Trilogy – Part 1 (Illustrated): The Origin of the Movement - Lives and Battles of Pioneer Suffragists (Including Letters, Articles, Conference Reports, Speeches, Court Transcripts & Decisions)”, p.2575, e-artnow

  28 Copy quote

  Show source

• The real breeders of discontent and alien doctrines of government and philosophies subversive of good citizenship are such as these who take the law into their own hands.

  John L. Lewis

  Philosophy, Real, Government

  Labor and the Nation, delivered 3 September 1937 in Washington D.C.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there's time, the Bastard Time.

  John Steinbeck

  Doe, Fields, Hunger

  John Steinbeck (2008). “Sweet Thursday”, p.59, Penguin

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Discontent is the seed of ethics.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Art, Philosophy, History

  14 Copy quote

• And there is no getting away from the fact - and this is a key point of discontent among many who are upset with the health care reform bill is it didn't go far enough. They say why isn't it in place now? Why don't I see some benefits now? All I see is the potential for losing insurance coverage, for premiums going up. That's hurting Obama.

  Juan Williams

  Hurt, Keys, Upset

  7 Copy quote

• The thirst to know and understand a large and liberal discontent.

  William Watson

  Curiosity, Thirst, Knows

  William Watson (1899). “The Collected Poems of William Watson”

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• When I go to farms or little towns, I am always surprised at the discontent I find. And New York, too often, has looked across the sea toward Europe. And all of us who turn our eyes away from what we have are missing life.

  Norman Rockwell

  New York, Eye, Artist

  13 Copy quote

• As might be supposed, my parents were quite poor, but we somehow never seemed to lack anything we needed, and I never saw a trace of discontent or a failure in cheerfulness over their lot in life, as indeed over anything.

  Albert J. Nock

  Parent, Might, Saws

  8 Copy quote

• The difference of the degrees in which the individuals of a great community enjoy the good things of life has been a theme of declaration and discontent in all ages.

  William Herschel

  Differences, Community, Age

  9 Copy quote

• Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

  William Shakespeare

  Summer, Ocean, Winter

  Cross, William Shakespeare (1989). “William Shakespeare: The Complete Works”, p.98, Barnes & Noble Publishing

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while maintaining privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists.

  Noam Chomsky

  Growth, Quality, Gone

  9 Copy quote

• Show me a thoroughly satisfied man - and I will show you a failure.

  Thomas A. Edison

  Success, Educational, Failure

  "The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison". Book by Thomas A. Edison, 1948.

  28 Copy quote

  Show source

• 90% of the divorces are initiated by women. That is really odd. Why? What's going on? What's the great discontent at the heart of it?

  Bob Geldof

  Heart, Divorce, Odd

  7 Copy quote

• For a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice, necessity and importance of political and social rights.

  B. R. Ambedkar

  Successful, Rights, Profound

  "Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination". Book by N.D. Arora, 2010.

  16 Copy quote

  Show source