arts and culture on Frugality

Lord, You are a great and holy God, and you have asked us to pursue you as the object of our worship and devotion. But Lord, we have fallen short of what you ask of us, we are a sinful people. We have...

If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher's stone.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Hold material goods and wealth on a flat palm and not in a clenched fist.

The tighter you squeeze, the less you have.

Thus it is that we always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap.

In his classic book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster shares 10 principles that can help you cultivate an attitude of simplicity over consumerism: Buy things for their usefulness rather than...

Teach us to give and not to count the cost.

Let him who possesses a field, so partake of its yearly fruits, that he may not suffer the ground to be injured by his negligence; but let him endeavor to hand it down to posterity as he received it, ...

We are meant to be part of the flow of abundance: to open our hands to receive what we need and share what we have with others. Jesus taught his followers to be radically generous when he said: “Sell ...

He that gives all, though but little gives much; because God looks not to the quantity of the gift, but to the quality of the givers.

Medieval Dominican friar Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), in his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, specifically the fourth petition (“give us this day our daily bread”), points out several ways that our own...

A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.

When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.

As a novice in a Catholic religious order, Ronald Rolheiser was taught the importance of religious poverty by having to write “Ad Usam” inside every book he was given. This was to teach him that the b...

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

Avarice is fear sheathed in gold.

Earthly goods are given to be used, not to be collected.... Hoarding is idolatry.

For many of us, living in excess doesn’t express itself in extremities. It doesn’t translate to tying $4,000 to balloons and releasing it into the air. It doesn’t have to amount to owning six houses (...

Looking through the lens of Holy Scripture, human work must be seen first and foremost as value contribution, not economic compensation. We can have a flourishing, fruitful life even if we don’t get a...

A primary resistance to a less hurried way of life—a resistance I find in myself and in others—is the belief that “I won’t be as productive” or that “I will fail to seize the opportunities God sets be...

Those who give much without sacrifice are reckoned as having given little.

Riches are the pettiest and least worthy gifts which God can give a man. What are they to God's Word, to bodily gifts, such as beauty and health; or to the gifts of the mind, such as understanding...

Since my money is God's money, every spending decision I make is a spiritual decision.

We live in a fast-paced society. We’re used to quick results. It seems that much of our time and money is spent trying to save time—to do things faster, more efficient, and with less effort. We hurry ...

Customs are generally unselfish. Habits are nearly always selfish.

The riches we impart are the only wealth we shall always retain.

Imagine you’re a financial counselor. Today you have two appointments, first with an elderly woman and then a middle-aged man. The woman’s husband died six years ago. She says, “I have no more money. ...

I have a neighbor who is obsessively neat. He lives on ten forested acres, and every time he drove up his long, winding driveway, the disorderly dead branches on the Ponderosa pine trees bothered him....

To live fully, we must learn to use things and love people, and not love things and use people.