47. Simplicity Is Not a Boast

Simplicity is not a boast. If it becomes one, it was never simplicity.

When you have trained yourself to supply the needs of your body at a small price, do not pride yourself on it.

If you drink water, do not say on every occasion, "I drink water."

First, consider how much more sparing and patient with hardship the poor are than we are.

If at some time you want to harden yourself by training to labor, and to bearing hard trials, do it for your own sake, and not for the world.

Do not grab cold statues to show off.

When you are very thirsty, take a little cold water into your mouth, and spit it out, and tell nobody.

What this means. If you eat simply, simply eat. Do not turn your self-discipline into a new kind of showing off.