Those who are quite satisfied sit still and do nothing; those who are not quite satisfied are the sole benefactors of the world.

Landor contrasts complacent contentment with productive dissatisfaction. “Quite satisfied” people, he suggests, lack the motive force that drives invention, reform, and generosity; they “sit still” because nothing presses them to act. By contrast, those “not quite satisfied” feel a constructive unease—an awareness of imperfection in themselves or the world—that becomes the engine of improvement. The line elevates discontent from a vice to a civic virtue when it is paired with action: dissatisfaction becomes beneficence because it spurs work that benefits others. Implicitly, Landor warns against self-satisfied stagnation and praises the restless conscience that keeps societies and individuals developing.