50 Slow-Down Quotes For Enjoying Life

By Clifton Sankofa

School Leader, Language Arts Expert & Master Quote Curator

Published December 9, 2022

These slow down quotes are perfect for anybody who has been feeling the grind.

Sometimes it feels that our brains are hard-wired to rush, but if we look at our environment, we see that nature takes its time.

Nature got it right, as it usually does.

Tell us your favorite slow down quote in the comment section below.

What are the benefits of reading these slow down quotes?

Most things that are worthwhile take time.

It’s probably why it takes the better part of a year for us to be physically born.

Yet from the moment we take our first breath, it seems everything is in a rush.

We cannot enjoy life if we are rushing from one moment to the next:

With parents:

rushing to get you home from the hospital
scrambling to get you ready for kindergarten
running a marathon to get you through school

Then, of course, there is the rush to attain things in life, have the ultimate career, travel, and live life.

A balanced life includes time to work toward our passions and time to relax and enjoy ourselves.

Slow down, and enjoy the read!

Slow down quotes that remind you to enjoy life

1. “The first principle of all action is leisure.” — Aristotle

2. “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” — Gandhi

3. “Slow down. Life is crossing the road.” — Debasish Mridha

4. “Americans need rest, but do not know it.” — Bertrand Russell

5. “If people just took it a day at a time, they’d be a lot happier.” — Richard Bachman

6. “Slow down and enjoy life… Because it is certainly and unexpectedly short…” — Rodolfo Peon

7. “Slow down you’re doing fine… You can’t be everything you want to be before your time.” — Billy Joel

8. “In order to seek one’s own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.” — Plato

9. “We need, above all things, to slow down and get ourselves to amble through life instead of to rush through it.” — Alan Watts

10. “Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast — you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” — Eddie Cantor

Wise slow down quotes to live by

11. “Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

12. “Slow down to the speed of wisdom.” — Vicki Robin

13. “Never be so busy as not to think of others.” — Mother Teresa

14. “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.” — Shakespeare

15. “The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” — Moliere

16. “Slow down and think about the lessons of the elders.” — Maya Soetoro-Ng

17. “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

18. “Let thy step be slow and steady, that thou stumble not.” — Tokugawa Ieyasu

19. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius

20. “Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” — Chinese Proverb

Slow down quotes about breathing, meditation, and relaxing

21. “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” — Lily Tomlin

22. “A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover.” — Albert Camus

23. “Slowing down… allows you to be calm enough to see things clearly.” — Kimi Werner

24. “Mindfulness is a state of mind you only can get to if you slow down.” — Geir Berthelsen

25. “When I slow down, I can dive deeper—and that’s how I prefer to live.” — Cait Flanders

26. “A genuinely Slow world implies nothing less than a lifestyle revolution.” — Carl Honoré

27. “Sit quietly and listen for a voice that will say, ‘Be more silent’… your soul starts to revive.” — Rumi

28. “Stop the words now. Open the window in the center of your chest and let the spirits fly in and out.” — Rumi

29. “Slow living is about intention, spending more time on things that are important and less on things that aren’t.” — Brooke McAlary

30. “We can make our minds so like still water… and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer, life because of our quiet.” — William Butler Yeats

Slow down quotes about success or speeding up

31. “Slow down to go faster.” — Ralph Simone

32. “Slow and steady wins the race.” — Robert Lloyd

33. “We need to learn the slow ‘yes’ and the quick ‘no.’” — Tom Friel

34. “If you’re short on time, don’t speed up. Slow down.” — Robert Celner

35. “Slowing down is sometimes the best way to speed up.” — Mike Vance

36. “Being in a hurry does not slow down time.” — Mokokoma Mokhonoana

37. “Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.” — Plato

38. “The action that follows deliberation should be quick, but deliberation should be slow.” — Aristotle

39. “It is only when there is no goal and no rush that the human senses are fully open to receive the world.” — Alan Watts

40. “The central tenet of the slow philosophy is taking the time to do things properly, and thereby enjoy them more.” — Carl Honoré

Slow down quotes to keep in mind

41. “The cure for moving too fast is just to slow down.” — William E. Coles Jr.

42. “Drive slow and enjoy the scenery – drive fast and join the scenery.” — Douglas Horton

43. “Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.” — Socrates

44. “Slowness is also about balance, so if you must hurry, then hurry slowly.” — Geir Berthelsen

45. “It always pays to dwell slowly on the beautiful things—the more beautiful, the more slowly.” — Atticus

46. “Slow and steady wins the race, not the person who wants to climb the whole stairs in one stride.” — Michael Bassey Johnson

47. “There is no hurry, and in a way there is no future. It is all here — so take it easy, take your time, and get acquainted with it.” — Alan Watts

48. “To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.” — Winston Churchill

49. “Wisdom is not something we have to strive to acquire. Rather, it arises naturally as we slow down and notice what is already there.” — Haemin Sunim

50. “Sometimes I think there are only two instructions we need to follow to develop and deepen our spiritual life: slow down and let go.” — Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Slow down and smell the roses

Many consider roses to be one of the most beautiful flowers.

They draw our eyes to their deep colors and delicate petals.

However, if we just observe a beautifully full rose bush with our eyes, we are still missing out on half of the beauty of what it has to offer; its enchanting aroma!

To fully experience the rose fragrance, a stop is necessary.

We must get close and carefully let the floral scent waft into our nostrils.

A person could not do this effectively, rushing past a rose bush.

The idea behind “stopping to smell the roses” means that if we do not give the precious things in our lives, the time and attention they need, we could miss out on half the beauty of the experience.