The technology of mass production is inherently violent, ecologically damaging, self-defeating in terms of non-renewable resources, and stultifying for the human person. E. F. Schumacher More Quotes by E. F. Schumacher More Quotes From E. F. Schumacher There is incredible generosity in the potentialities of Nature. We only have to discover how to utilize them. E. F. Schumacher incredibles generosity It is doubly chimerical to build peace on economic foundations which, in turn, rest on the systematic cultivation of greed and envy, the very forces which drive men into conflict. E. F. Schumacher envy greed men The truly educated man is not a man who knows a bit of everything, not even the man who knows all the details of all subjects (if such a thing were possible): the “whole man” in fact, may have little detailed knowledge of facts and theories...but he will be truly in touch with the centre. He will not be in doubt about his basic convictions, about his view on the meaning and purpose of his life. He may not be able to explain these matters in words, but the conduct of his life will show a certain sureness of touch which stems from this inner clarity. E. F. Schumacher views doubt men Perhaps we cannot raise the winds. But each of us can put up the sail, so that when the wind comes we can catch it. E. F. Schumacher sail climate-change wind We still have to learn how to live peacefully, not only with our fellow men but also with nature. E. F. Schumacher nature fellow-man men The richer a society, the more impossible it becomes to do worthwhile things without immediate pay-off. E. F. Schumacher worthwhile-things impossible pay There is no economic problem and, in a sense, there never has been. E. F. Schumacher economic-problems economic problem We still have to learn how to live peacefully, not only with our fellow men but also with nature and, above all, with those Higher Powers which have made nature and have made us; for, assuredly, we have not come about by accident and certainly have not made ourselves E. F. Schumacher fellow-man made men The key words of violent economics are urbanization, industrialization, centralization, efficiency, quantity, speed. . . . The problem of evolving a nonviolent way of economic life [in the West] and that of developing the underdeveloped countries may well turn out to be largely identical. E. F. Schumacher keys life country An attitude to life which seeks fulfillment in the single-minded pursuit of wealth - in short, materialism - does not fit into this world, because it contains within itself no limiting principle, while the environment in which it is placed is strictly limited. E. F. Schumacher principles attitude life There are poor societies which have too little; but where is the rich society that says: 'Halt! We have enough'? There is none. E. F. Schumacher rich enough littles There can be nothing sacred in something that has a price. E. F. Schumacher small-is-beautiful sacred I started by saying that one of the most fateful errors of our age is the belief that the problem of production has been solved. This illusion, I suggested, is mainly due to our inability to recognize that the modern industrial system, with all its intellectual sophistication, consumes the very basis on which is has been erected. To use the language of the economist, it lives on irreplaceable capital which it cheerfully treats as income. E. F. Schumacher environmental errors intellectual Real life consists of the tensions produced by the incompatibility of opposites, each of which is needed E. F. Schumacher incompatibility real opposites The most striking about modern industry is that it requires so much and accomplishes so little. Modern industry seems to be inefficient to a degree that surpasses one's ordinary powers of imagination. Its inefficiency therefore remains unnoticed. E. F. Schumacher degrees imagination ordinary Many people love in themselves what they hate in others E. F. Schumacher complacency hate people That soul-destroying, meaningless, mechanical, moronic work is an insult to human nature which must necessarily and inevitably produce either escapism or aggression, and that no amount of 'bread and circuses' can compensate for the damage done-these are facts which are neither denied nor acknowledged but are met with an unbreakable conspiracy of silence-because to deny them would be too obviously absurd and to acknowledge them would condemn the central preoccupation of modern society as a crime against humanity. E. F. Schumacher silence soul humanity Work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss of leisure. E. F. Schumacher leisure bliss joy I think I should not go far wrong if I asserted that the amount of genuine leisure available in a society is generally in inverse proportion to the amount of labor-saving machinery it employs. E. F. Schumacher saving technology thinking We think work with the brain is more worthy than work with the hands. Nobody who thinks with his hands could ever fall for this. E. F. Schumacher hands fall thinking
