Are you a digital nomad who’s always on the go? Or maybe you’re just someone who savors the moments of slow living? If so, you’ll appreciate these quotes about slowing down in life.
They’re for anyone who’s looking to take a step back and enjoy the moment.
So whether you’re reading this while sitting in a cafe or on a train headed somewhere new, take a few minutes to relax and soak up these words of wisdom.
Slow down and enjoy life – it’s not going anywhere! Your journey is your destination.
Quotes About Slowing Down in Life
Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.
Shakespeare
Slower, it turns out, often means better—better health, better work, better business, better family life, better exercise, better cuisine and better sex.
Carl Honoré
Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going to fast—you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.
Eddie Cantor
Everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler.
Albert Einstein
Stoicism, understood properly, is a cure for a disease. The disease in question is the anxiety, grief, fear, and various other negative emotions that plague humans and prevent them from experiencing a joyful existence.
William B. Irving
Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
Socrates
In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention.
Pico Iyer
Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.
Søren Kierkegaard
The future comes slowly, the present flies and the past stands still forever.
Johann Friedrich Von Schiller
I think my work has to do with a sense that we are attempting, all the time, to create a logical, rational path through the day. To the left and right there are an amazing set of distractions that we usually can’t afford to follow. But the poet is willing to stop anywhere. And it’s that willingness to slow down and examine the mysterious bits of fluff in our lives that is the poet’s interest.
William Collins
The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for.
Louis L’Amour
If you’re having difficulty coming up with new ideas, then slow down. For me, slowing down has been a tremendous source of creativity. It has allowed me to open up—to know that there’s life under the earth and that I have to let it come through me in a new way. Creativity exists in the present moment. You can’t find it anywhere else.
Natalie Goldberg
A mind that is fast is sick. A mind that is slow is sound. A mind that is still is divine.
Meher Baba
What fools call ‘wasting time’ is most often the best investment.
Nassim Taleb
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
James Taylor
Busyness is, at its core, about misplaced priorities.
Joshua Becker
Slow down. Life is crossing the road.
Debasish Mridha
Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?
Henry David Thoreau
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
Mahatma Gandhi
Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference.
Tim Ferriss
Life is long if you know how to use it.
Seneca
Busyness is an illness of the spirit.
Eugene Peterson
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
Lao Tzu
There is no hurry, and in a way there is no future. It is all here — so take it easy, take your time, and get acquainted with it.
Alan Watts
The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.
Moliere
The action that follows deliberation should be quick, but deliberation should be slow.
Aristotle
Mindfulness is a state of mind you only can get to if you slow down.
Geir Berthelsen
We need, above all things, to slow down and get ourselves to amble through life instead of to rush through it.
Alan Watts
The five ascending levels of intellect: Smart, Intelligent, Brilliant, Genius, Simple.
Albert Einstein
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
Chinese Proverb
Take a deep breath. Get present in the moment and ask yourself what is important this very second.
Greg McKeown
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
Confucius
It is only when there is no goal and no rush that the human senses are fully open to receive the world.
Alan Watts
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves—slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.
Thich Nhat Hanh
The first principle of all action is leisure.
Aristotle
We need to learn the slow ‘yes’ and the quick ‘no.’
Tom Friel
Americans need rest, but do not know it.
Bertrand Russell
Take a deep breath. Get present in the moment and ask yourself what is important this very second.
Greg McKeown
Charles Darwin described himself as a slow thinker. Einstein famously sat in his office, gazing into the middle distance for hours on end. [I]n the intellectual world and the arts, people have always understood the power of looking slowly at the big picture.
Carl Honoré
Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.
Mae West
Contemplate and Create
Thought-Provoking Queries and Actionable Challenges
Contemplate
- Carl Honoré mentioned that slower often means better in many aspects of life. Reflect on a moment in your life where taking your time resulted in a more favorable outcome. Could adopting a slower pace benefit your current lifestyle in any way?
- Thich Nhat Hanh encourages us to do simple things, like drinking tea, with full presence and reverence. Think about a daily activity that you usually rush through. How might your experience of this activity change if you were to do it slowly and with full attention?
Create
- Inspired by Natalie Goldberg’s insight into creativity arising from slowing down, take a leisurely walk without a destination in mind. Allow yourself to notice and appreciate your surroundings fully. Once you’re back, jot down any new ideas or perspectives that came to you during this unhurried walk.
- Lao Tzu points out that nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. Start a small gardening project or nurture a house plant, observing and mirroring the patient pace of nature in its growth process. Document the growth and changes you observe over time in a journal, noting any parallels you can draw between the natural world and the pace of your life.
Parting Words
How will you apply these quotes to your life? It’s always important to remember that slowing down doesn’t mean doing nothing. It means taking the time to appreciate the world around you and finding ways to live a more fulfilling, mindful life.
What’s your favorite way to slow down and enjoy the moment? Have any other quotes about slowing down that you think deserve to be a part of this collection? Share with us in the comments below!
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