30+ Inspiring Slow Living Quotes to Help You Enjoy Life More!

My life is so busy these days. But I’m busy in a better way than I used to be.

Before the pandemic my life was all about running from one obligation to another.

Now, though I still have “obligations”, I have a lot more time to do things I really truly enjoy, things that light me up!

What about you? Do you feel like you are always running between things on your to do list that you don’t even want to do? Is it hard for you to say no? Does it feel like the days are flying by and your life is wasting away?

Have you ever wondered how to slow down and enjoy life more?

I know I have!

But it can be so hard to think about slowing down and enjoying life when the world around us glorifies being busy and fast. So maybe we all need some inspiration!

That’s why I compiled over 30 slow living quotes to help us all learn how to slow down and enjoy life.

We are in good company for wanting a slow life that holds more meaning and fulfillment.

Maybe these quotes about slowing down and enjoying life can help us remember why we need to slow down and what we are slowing down for.

What is Slow Living?

“I can’t even think about slow living! I have way too much on my plate right now! Maybe next month or next year!”

I hear you!

For a long time I felt exactly the same way and honestly for a long time the idea of “slow living” made me think of that sloth that worked at the DMV in Zootopia! It sounded painful and ridiculous to me to “slow down”.

But what is slow living really?

It’s not about moving slowly and it’s not really about dropping everything and moving to a cabin in the middle of nowhere either.

Slow living is the concept of making time in your life to take better care of yourself and make more intentional choices that take your life in the direction you want it to go.

When you try to apply slow living to your life you are trying to be more balanced about your schedule so that you can notice the good things around you more and thus enjoy life.

Doesn’t sound so bad after all, does it?

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to apply. You can say your going to slow down and enjoy life and then jam pack your schedule once again.

TRUST ME! I know.

So it’s time to get inspired and see how we can apply slow living to different parts of our lives. Let’s dive into some WONDERFUL slow living quotes!

Slow Living Quotes about Work:

The first thing we think of when talking about slowing down is our work. We have to work. There is no doubt about that. But does our work have to kill us? Should it make us deeply unhappy? Is all work bad?

Think about those questions as you read the slow living quotes below and think about how you can slow down and make your work life better.

You often feel tired not because you’ve done too much but because you’ve done too little of what sparks a light in you. Alexander den Heijer

Alexander Den Heijer

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

Thoreau

The central tenet of the slow philosophy is taking the time to do things properly and thereby enjoy them more.

Carl Honore

There are two ways to be rich: one is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.

Jackie French Koller

The greatest wealth is to live content with little.

Plato

The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but developing the capacity to enjoy less.

Socrates

My goal is no longer to get more done but rather to have less to do.

Francine Joy

Instead of hustling to build a life that looks good, what if you slowed down and cultivated a life that feels good.

Erica Layne

I don’t say no because I am so busy. I say no because I don’t want to be so busy.

Courtney Carver

As you can see, if we simplify our life and want less we can also work less. When you work less you won’t be so exhausted and stressed all the time. And if you aren’t in debt you won’t feel stuck with a job that you hate.

Unknown

It’s all too easy to get caught in an unpleasant cycle of working to pay for a nice house to live in so that you can go to work and buy things that you don’t have time to enjoy because your working longer hours too pay for them.

Lettie Stratton

She silently stepped out of the race she never wanted to be in, found her own lane, and proceeded to win.

Pam Lambert

You get the point. We don’t want work to take over our live. These quotes about slowing down and enjoying life all focus on having a reasonable work life balance. They also address the fact that if we want less we can also work less.

But not all work is bad, work that is truly meaningful is energizing! Think about making more time for work you enjoy. Working on things you enjoy can be truly satisfying even if it doesn’t earn you any money.

Slow Living Quotes about Family:

Why do we want to learn how to slow down and enjoy life though? Most people are motivated at least partly, if not mostly, by a desire to spend more time with family and friends. How can slow living help you enjoy your family life more?

These slow living quotes may help:

Maybe family meals at home, spending more time with out children, and living a simpler life based on necessity us the solution to more than just this virus.

Steve Dillender

If it costs your peace, it’s too expensive.

Unknown

It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Taking care of yourself is part of taking care of others.

Jennifer Williamson

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

Robert Brualt

The best portions of your life will be the small nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matter to you.

Ritu Ghatourey

We can a lot from these quotes about slowing down and enjoying life. A life full of memories is built with the people that populate our life. If we take time for them we will have a beautiful life.

When we stop chasing what looks like “the American dream” and start really taking time for our family we will build a life we love!

Quotes About Slowing Down and Enjoying Nature

I don’t think it’s possible to really enjoy slow living without making time for nature.

Being in natural environments is relaxing and energizing. It gives us time for contemplation and rest. And it’s so simple! Find a forest, a beach, or a desert sunset to look at! Enjoy a hike or take a bike ride!

Here are some beautiful slow living quotes to inspire you:

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, there is a rapture on the lonely shore, there is a society, where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in it’s roar. I love not man the less, but nature more.

Lord Byron

The premature anticipation of the end prevents enjoyment of the present. Summer does not end until mid-September. Even then, fall will bring it’s own beautiful transformation.

Unknown

Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.

Paul Theroux

Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.

Albert Einstein

If the ocean can calm itself, so can you. We are both salt water mixed with air.

Meditation Nayyirah Waheed

All good things are wild and free.

Henry David Thoreau

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Tzu

You belong among the wildflowers. You belong somewhere you feel free.

Tom Petty

Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Some of the old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

It’s clear to see that all these quotes about slowing down talk about nature. In this modern world, where we spend so much time in front of our screens, it can be hard to know how to get outside more but it’s worth the effort! When was the last time you went outside?

I think you will agree with me when I say that I rarely regret some time spent in nature. It is almost always calming and refreshing.

Quotes About Slowing Down and Making a House a Home

Just as a plant thrives in the right environment and suffers in the wrong one, your home can have a huge effect on your happiness.

Because of that, when people want to know how to slow life down simplifying your home is usually mentioned. You can’t start slowing down and enjoying life if your home is a chaotic stress inducing burden. Instead you want to make your home a restful happy place where you can thrive!

Here are some beautiful slow living quotes about making your home more restful:

For me, a calm house equals a calm heart equals a calm life.

Erica Layne

The first step in crafting the life you want to is to get rid of everything you don’t.

Joshua Becker

What if I accept that all I really want is a small, slow, simple life. A beautiful, quiet, gentle life. I think it is enough.

Unknown

Your home is living space, not storage space.

Francine Joy

A home with fewer possessions is more spacious, more calming, and more focused on the people who live inside it.

Joshua Becker

The more stuff I donated, the more I was able to breath. The more trash I threw away the more weight I felt lifted. The more stuff I took out of our home, the more I was able to see a new life. The more uncluttered I lived, the more joy I found.

Zina Harrington

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

William Morris

Did those slow living quotes about what makes a house a home make you look at your house differently?

It may be a new thought to you but decluttering your home is actually a form of self care. That is because it will make everything else easier.

You will actually start to enjoy cooking in your kitchen and getting dressed in the morning if your home isn’t overwhelming you with messy clutter! Declutter your home and it will be a lot easier to enjoy slow living.

Slow Living Quotes about Your Goals!

Now it may seem that pursuing slow living is a sure way to get nothing done. You don’t want that! You’ve got lots of big goals and you want to achieve them.

But what if I told you that slow living is actually the key to finally being consistent in your efforts to achieve your goals? It’s true!

Think about it. Every successful athlete, artist, and CEO is focused. They have to strip away all the extraneous things in life in order to focus on the essentials!

Here are some slow living quotes that will help you head straight for your goals:

How to win at life: Step 1. Let people do what they need to do to make them happy, mind your own business and do what you need to do to make you happy. The end.

Unknown

Creativity is intelligence having fun.

Einstein

When you do something beautiful and nobody notices do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle yet most of the audience still sleeps.

John Lennon

This world is but a canvas for our imagination.

Henry David Thoreau

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

Thoreau

Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more.

John Kabat-Zinn

Why is it seen as odd to want a slow and simple life? To live free from stress, anxiety and clutter. To take my time to potter, not to rush. To enjoy the small gentle things in life that others do not see. To me that is not odd at all! That is truly living!

Helen Munday

Be a curator of your life. Slowly cut things out until you’re left only with what you love, with what’s necessary, with what makes you happy.

Leo Babauta

I love all of those slow living quotes! Doesn’t it just make sense that lightening your load will help you climb that mountain?

When you simplify your life you can slow down and focus on the things that you love, hone your skills, and make your dreams a reality!

Quotes About Slowing Down and Your Mindset

However, in this world it can be really hard to slow down and focus. We are constantly tempted to buy this, do that, and try something new! It’s soooo fun!

But it can also be quite exhausting. Like a hamster in a hamster wheel, you may be going fast but you aren’t going anywhere.

So how can you slow down and focus? Here are some great quotes about slowing down and enjoying life for all it’s ups and downs:

5 by 5 rule: If it’s not gonna matter in 5 years, don’t spend 5 more minutes being upset about it.

Unknown

Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

Thoreau

Luxury to me is not about buying expensive things, it’s about living in a way where you appreciate things.

Oscar de la Renta

Our culture made a virtue of living on as extroverts. We discouraged the inner journey, the quest for center. So we lost out center and have to find it again.

Anais Nin

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. Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.

Thich Nhat Hanhs

It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.

Thoreau

An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth.

Bonnie Friedman

In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating that going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.

Pico Iyer

Live less out of habit and more out of intent.

Unknown

And then one day I decided that hurry and stress were no longer going to be part of my life. Stress is self-created, I decided to stop manufacturing it. We can choose an internal calm and joy even amid the chaos.

Brendon Burchard

The quieter you become the more you are able to hear.

Rumi

“Finire a tarlucci e vino.” Literally: “To end up with cookies and wine.” English equivalent. “All’s well that ends well.”

Italian Phrase

Slowing down is truly the key to living an intentional life!

These quotes about slowing down can help you see how you need to take time to notice the things around you, enjoy the beauty in your life, and really make time count in a more meaningful way!

Slow Living Quotes About Health and Rest

Are you feeling inspired? Do you want to start slowing down in your life?

Great!

But first, you are going have to learn how to accept that REST is OK.

This is the hardest part for me. I love to “stop and smell the roses” and I would honestly love to put that in my planner and check it off the list. Being an A-Type personality can really make resting hard to do.

Here are some quotes about slowing down and resting without guilt:

It’s okay if you fall apart sometimes. Tacos fall apart, we still love them.

Unknown

The secret to living well and longer is: eat half, walk double, laugh triple, and love without measure.

Tibetan Proverb

Don’t forget to drink water and get sun. You’re basically a houseplant with complicated emotions.

Unknown

Why is busy equated with successful? Why doesn’t successful mean happy, healthy, and present? Even if society’s definition doesn’t change, we can change it for ourselves and for those we love and care about.

Lettie Stratton

It takes courage to say yes to rest and play in a culture where exhaustion is seen as a status symbol.

Brene Brown

“Instead of saying ‘I’m so busy, I’ve started saying, “My life is full today.’”

Nicola Jane Hobbs

Tomorrow is “National Stay in Bed Reading Day”. I just made it up. Tell the others.

Unknown

I love that last one! Whoever said that has to be my future best friend!

Anyway, as you can see from these quotes about slowing down rest isn’t really optional. It’s an essential part of life.

Resting isn’t selfish. It’s what you do for others because if you are worn out, cranky, and unhealthy you can’t do anything for those around you.

Take time for some really good self-care and don’t EVER feel bad about it.

And don’t forget having fun can be a form of self care too! There are tons of fun summer activities for adults you might explore to continue growing and enjoying life!

Are You Inspired By These Slow Living Quotes?

I hope this post felt like a nice long soak in a hot tub! Maybe you feel relaxed and relieved to know that you can slow down a bit and not be “lazy” or “unproductive” or “worthless”.

If you are inspired by these slow living quotes it’s time to simplify your life.

Minimalism can help you have that happy simple life! The minimalist lifestyle might sound overwhelming to you but it really isn’t. It’s simply a way to remove all the distractions that are wearing you out so you can slow down and enjoy life more.

Learn more about living the minimalist lifestyle today! Grab the Doable Simplicity (minimalism for normal people) e-book today!