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E. F. Schumacher

E. F. Schumacher Quotes

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Famous E. F. Schumacher Quotes

“From a Buddhist point of view, this is standing the truth on its head by considering goods as more important than people and consumption as more important than creative activity. It means shifting the emphasis from the worker to the product of work, that is, from the human to the sub-human, surrender to the forces of evil.”

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“From the point of view of the employer, it is in any case simply an item of cost, to be reduced to a minimum if it cannot be eliminated altogether, say, by automation. From the point of view of the workman, it is a "disutility"; to work is to make a sacrifice of one's leisure and comfort, and wages are a kind of compensation for the sacrifice.”

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“To organize work in such a manner that it becomes meaningless, boring, stultifying, or nerve-racking for the worker would be little short of criminal; it would indicate a greater concern with goods than with people, an evil lack of compassion and a soul-destroying degree of attachment to the most primitive side of this worldly existence.”

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“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.”

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“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.”

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“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”

InspirationalMotivationalMovingScienceSimpleBusinessCourageViolenceStupidFoolGeniusOppositesBiggerBraveryIntelligentComplexesSimplicityComplexityInsightfulFavouriteSimple LifeProgrammersSimplifySimple ThingsMinimalismHave CourageComputer ProgrammingPeace WarProgramming LanguagesSimple LivingArt And ScienceBe CourageousFew WordsComputer LanguageMake Peace Not WarSoftware DesignBravery And CourageComputer ProgrammersLess Is MoreBravery And FearPlain And SimpleLiving A Simple LifeViolence And PeaceWords Of CourageLive SimplySimplicity In DesignSimple Things In LifeViolence And WarSmall Is BeautifulSimplifying LifeGenius And MadnessSimplifying Your LifeSimplicity And EleganceSimple And ComplexLiving MoreMoving In The Right DirectionTiny HousesInsanity And GeniusSmall Simple
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“Economic development is something much wider and deeper than economics, let alone econometrics. Its roots lie outside the economic sphere, in education, organisation, discipline and, beyond that, in political independence and a national consciousness of self-reliance.”

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“Even bigger machines, entailing even bigger concentrations of economic power and exerting ever greater violence against the environment, do not represent progress: they are a denial of wisdom. Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the nonviolent, the elegant and beautiful.”

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“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.”

HumansSoulDoneFactsWould BeHumanitySilenceModernHuman NatureCrimeProduceAmountMetsDenyBreadAbsurdMaking MoneyAcknowledgeDamageInsultDestroyingMeaninglessDeniedConspiracyAggressionCircusEscapismPreoccupationModern SocietyUnbreakableCrimes Against HumanitySmall Is BeautifulBread And Circuses
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