He who knows contentment has happiness

It is true that by pursuing material wealth and social status we can earn the rewards offered by our biological incentive system, but it is unlikely that these rewards will fully compensate us for the trouble involved in pursuing them - particularly when we recall how fleeting the rewards are likely to be. Is our goal in life to be rich? Then we would do well to take to heart the Taoist proverb, repeated in many cultures, that "he who knows contentment is rich." Lao Tzu was right, I think, when he claimed that "there is no disaster greater than not being content."
---On Desire, by William B Irvine