I am not poor, I am not rich; nihil est, nihil deest, I have little, I want nothing: all my treasure is in Minerva’s tower.. I live still a collegiate student..and lead a monastic life, ipse mihi theatrum [sufficient entertainment to myself], sequestered from those tumults and troubles of the world..aulae vanitatem, fori ambitionem, ridere mecum soleo [I laugh to myself at the vanities of the court, the intrigues of public life], I laugh at all. Robert Burton
About This Quote

Cicero is known for his work as a lawyer, but he was also an orator, statesman , and philosopher. This quote captures all of that. He is not poor; he has little; he wants nothing; he lives still a collegiate student; he leads a monastic life; and he laughs at the vanities of the court, the intrigues of public life. Although this was written to one of his friends, it is also a universal message about finding joy in the small things in life.

Source: The Anatomy Of Melancholy

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More Quotes By Robert Burton
  1. All Poets are mad.
  2. That which others hear or read of, I felt and practised myself; they get their knowledge by books, I mine by melancholizing.
  3. What a glut of books! Who can read them?
  4. I am not poor, I am not rich; nihil est, nihil deest, I have little, I want nothing: all my treasure is in Minerva’s tower.. I live still a collegiate student..and lead a monastic life, ipse mihi theatrum [sufficient entertainment to myself], sequestered from those...
  5. [T]hou canst not think worse of me than I do of myself.
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