Inspirational consumption quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
Most Famous Consumption Quotes
Think not so much of what you lack as of what you have. Marcus Aurelius
Infinite growth of material consumption in a finite world is an impossibility. E. F. Schumacher
It is not the man who has little, but he who desires more, that is poor. Peter Rosegger
The world has also learned that economic growth, by itself, cannot close the gap between rich and poor. Dalai Lama
To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose. To throw away what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful. Marie Kondō
Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production. Adam Smith
If each individual stops accumulating possessions, then all will have enough. Francis of Assisi
Consumption may be regarded as negative production. Alfred Marshall
Rich is he who has much, richer is he who needs little, richest is he who gives much. Gerhard Tersteegen
The model of ownership, in a society organized round mass consumption, is addiction. Christopher Lasch
Those who place a great value on gardens, buildings, clothes, jewelry, or any possession are less sociable and pleasing; they lose sight of the people. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure. Thorstein Veblen
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. Seneca
Poetry and consumption are the most flattering of diseases. William Shenstone
In a materialistic society, being poor but happy is a political statement. Mokokoma Mokhonoana
A society in which consumption has to be artificially stimulated in order to keep production going is a society founded on trash and waste, for such a society is a house built upon sand. Dorothy L. Sayers
Serenity is gained by letting go without hating. Gerhard Uhlenbruck
Too many of us now tend to worship self indulgence and consumption. Jimmy Carter
You are not sovereign if you have a lot, but need little. Nico Paech
We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind. Martin Luther King
I claim that in losing the spinning wheel we lost our left lung. We are, therefore, suffering from galloping consumption. The restoration of the wheel arrests the progress of the fell disease. Mahatma Gandhi
If property had simply pleasures, we could stand it; but its duties make it unbearable. Oscar Wilde
Sane and intelligent human beings are like all other human beings, and carefully and cautiously and diligently conceal their private real opinions from the world and give out fictitious ones in their stead for general consumption. Mark Twain
Life is too short to be little. Dale Carnegie
A shift is necessary toward lifestyles less geared to environmental damaging consumption patterns. Maurice Strong
There is only one way to feel good One must learn to be content with what is given and not always demand what is lacking. Theodor Fontane
Most of the movies I saw growing up were viewed as totally disposable, fine for quick consumption, but they have survived 50 years and are still growing. Manuel Puig
Simplicity is the key note of all true elegance. Coco Chanel
Daily life is governed by an economic system in which the production and consumption of insults tends to balance out. Raoul Vaneigem
How many things there are that I don’t need. Socrates
I believe that the average guy in the street will give up a great deal, if he really understands the cost of not giving it up. In fact, we may find that, while we’re drastically cutting our energy consumption, we’re actually raising our standard of living. David R. Brower
Whenever we buy something we do not need, we waste not only money but also time. Mokokoma Mokhonoana
The Texas Energy Office’s Loan Star Program has reduced building energy consumption and taxpayers energy costs through the efficient operation of public buildings, saving taxpayers more than $172 million through energy efficiency projects. Rosa DeLauro
After consumption vouchers, there can actually only be ration cards, care packages and raisin bombers. Guido Westerwelle
If most American cities are about the consumption of culture, Los Angeles and New York are about the production of culture not only national culture but global culture. Barbara Kruger
Every man is looking for a hold. But the only hold lies in letting go. Hape Kerkeling
By the immediate preservation of eggs for home consumption through the use of water glass or lime water, larger supplies of fresh eggs may be made available for marketing later in the season, when production is less and prices higher. David F. Houston
He is not a free man who cannot indulge in idleness once in a while. Cicero
And almost half of American oil consumption is for motor vehicles. Tim Holden
Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. Adam Smith
Finally, we should help developing nations like China and India curb their exponentially increasing consumption of oil and natural gas, which is driving world prices higher. Bobby Jindal
Simplicity is the result of maturity. Friedrich Schiller
Multinational corporations do control. They control the politicians. They control the media. They control the pattern of consumption, entertainment, thinking. They’re destroying the planet and laying the foundation for violent outbursts and racial division. Jerry Brown
If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough. Vicki Robin
Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital. Thomas Jefferson
Less is more. Robert Browning
The basis on which good repute in any highly organized industrial community ultimately rests is pecuniary strength; and the means of showing pecuniary strength, and so of gaining or retaining a good name, are leisure and a conspicuous consumption of goods. Thorstein Veblen
We don’t buy what we want to have. We consume what we want to be. John Hegarty
Tourism, human circulation considered as consumption is fundamentally nothing more than the leisure of going to see what has become banal. Guy Debord
Capitalism has an inherent vice the unequal distribution of goods. Socialism, on the other hand, has an inherent virtue the equal distribution of misery. Winston Churchill
All I know about thermal pollution is that if we continue our present rate of growth in electrical energy consumption it will simply take, by the year 2000, all our freshwater streams to cool the generators and reactors. David R. Brower
Thrift is good revenue. Cicero
With production alone as the goal, industry in North America was dominated by the assembly line, standardization for mass consumption. Arthur Erickson
We underestimate what we have and overestimate what we are. Marie von Ebner Eschenbach
The level of potential physical productivity of a society depends on both the development of the intellect of its members, and a minimal standard of both demographic characteristics and of consumption. Robert Trout
Man will never find outside what he does not have inside. Alexandra Herdth
There is held to be no surer test of civilization than the increase per head of the consumption of alcohol and tobacco. Yet alcohol and tobacco are recognizable poisons, so that their consumption has only to be carried far enough to destroy civilization altogether. Havelock Ellis
When you buy something, you are not paying for it with money. You’re paying with the hours of life you had to spend earning that money. The difference is that life is one thing money can’t buy. Jose Mujica
Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog. Doug Larson
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone. Henry David Thoreau
Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. Adam Smith
Love people, use things. The opposite doesn’t work. Joshua Fields Millburn
Mass consumption, advertising, and mass art are a corporate Frankenstein; while they reinforce the system, they also undermine it. Ellen Willis
Capitalism is selfishness elevated to a system. Gerald Dunkl
A conception not reducible to the small change of daily experience is like a currency not exchangeable for articles of consumption; it is not a symbol, but a fraud. George Santayana
Many would like to live a simpler life if the way to get there wasn’t too complicated. Justus Jonas
Such lifestyle factors such as cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, little physical activity and low dietary calcium intake are risk factors for osteoporosis as well as for many other non communicable diseases. Gro Harlem Brundtland
Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. William Morris
Art is the production of objects for consumption, to be used and discarded while waiting for a new world in which man will have succeeded in freeing himself of everything, even of his own consciousness. Eugenio Montale
Greed is always the result of an inner void. Erich Fromm
Even the bands I dig don’t have a history of attaining mass consumption. Evan Dando
The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates
It is not government’s job to mandate responsibility on our behalf. We have the intelligence and good sense to make wise consumption choices for ourselves and our children. It is up to us to do what is best for our health and our children’s health. Michael Dean Crapo
The poor lack much, the greedy everything. Publilius Syrus
That dichotomy between the public consumption of the work and my intent and practice in making it is an uneasy one for me, on occasion. Jock Sturges
Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. C. S. Lewis
A massive campaign must be launched to restore a high quality environment in North America and to de develop the United States. De development means bringing our economic system especially patterns of consumption into line with the realities of ecology and the global resource situation. Redistribution of wealth both within and among nations is absolutely essential, if a decent life is to be provided for every human being. John Holdren
Sorting out the unessential is the core of all wisdom in life. Laozi
A drug is neither moral nor immoral it’s a chemical compound. The compound itself is not a menace to society until a human being treats it as if consumption bestowed a temporary license to act like an asshole. Frank Zappa
Formula of my happiness one yes, one no, one straight line, one goal. Friedrich Nietzsche
The sick man must follow his illness to the place where it is treated. He is set aside in one of the technical and secret zones hospitals, prisons, refuse dumps which relieve the living of everything that might hinder the chain of production and consumption, and which repair and select what can be sent back up to the surface of progress. Michel de Certeau
The secret of happiness lies in the mind’s release from worldly ties. Buddha
In the rare cases where it occurs, a failure to increase one’s visible consumption when the means for an increase are at hand is felt in popular apprehension to call for explanation, and unworthy motives of miserliness are imputed. Thorstein Veblen
