Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.

The line urges a disciplined openness to life: by “expecting nothing,” one loosens the grip of entitlement and the disappointment that follows fixed hopes. “Live frugally on surprise” reframes joy as something that arrives unbidden—small, ordinary, and therefore sustainable—rather than something to be demanded or purchased. Read this way, the quote advocates a kind of spiritual and emotional minimalism: reduce the appetite for guarantees, and you become more able to notice grace, beauty, or kindness when it appears. It also carries an ethical undertone: frugality suggests restraint and humility, a posture that can make one more attentive to others and to the present moment.