Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

Robert Brault is a contemporary American aphorist whose work circulated widely online and in quotation compilations in the early 2000s, often as short, standalone reflections rather than as lines embedded in a larger literary text. This saying is typically presented as an independent aphorism attributed to Brault and shared in contexts of mindfulness, gratitude, and retrospection—especially in greeting cards, blogs, and social-media posts. Because Brault’s aphorisms were frequently syndicated and reposted without consistent bibliographic metadata, the quote is commonly encountered without a stable, citable first publication venue or date, even when the attribution to him is retained.

The quote urges attentiveness to ordinary experiences, arguing that significance is often recognized only in retrospect. “Little things” suggests daily, easily dismissed moments—shared meals, casual conversations, familiar places—that later become emotionally central when circumstances change. The second clause reframes value as something time reveals: what seemed minor can become “big” because it forms the texture of a life and the core of memory. Implicitly, it critiques a future-fixated mindset (waiting for milestones to feel happy) and recommends gratitude and presence now, before loss, change, or distance turns the commonplace into something precious.