The extreme inequality of our ways of life, the excess of idleness among some and the excess of toil among others, the ease of stimulating and gratifying our appetites and our senses, the over-elaborate foods of the rich, which inflame and overwhelm them with indigestion, the bad food of the poor, which they often go withotu altogether, so hat they over-eat greedily when they have the opportunity; those late nights, excesses of all kinds, immoderate transports of every passion, fatigue, exhaustion of mind, the innumerable sorrows and anxieties that people in all classes suffer, and by which the human soul is constantly tormented: these are the fatal proofs that most of our ills are of our own making, and that we might have avoided nearly all of them if only we had adhered to the simple, unchanging and solitary way of life that nature ordained for us. JeanJacques Rousseau
About This Quote

The idea of living simply and avoiding excess was very popular in the early 19th century. A number of people, including Henry David Thoreau, adopted a simple life of self-reliance that was filled with nature. One of the most prominent advocates for this lifestyle was John Ruskin. He believed that the simple life was more natural and ended up writing an entire book on his beliefs, "Unto this Last."

Source: Discourse On The Origin Of Inequality

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  1. Or, rather, let us be more simple and less vain.
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