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Quote by Wendell Berry

“However destructive may be the policies of the government and the methods and products of the corporations, the root of the problem is always found to be found in private life. We must learn to see that every problem that concerns us as conservationists always leads straight to the question of how we live. The world is being destroyed, no doubt about it, by the greed of the rich and powerful. It is also being destroyed by popular demand.”

Quote by Wendell Berry

Book:Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays

Work

Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays

Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays is a thought-provoking compilation that examines the intersections of human sexuality, economic systems, personal freedom, and social cohesion. The essays within this volume offer a variety of viewpoints and analyses, encouraging readers to consider the complexities of these subjects in contemporary society. more

Author

Wendell Berry, an American novelist born on August 5, 1934, is renowned for his profound descriptions of rural life and his critical views on modern industrial civilization. more

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“Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “disposable” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.”

“In a consumer society, expectations dare not plateau, because a growing economy depends on rising expectations... The more we let our level of contentment be determined by outside factors-a new car, fashionable clothes, a prestigious career, social status-the more we relinquish control over our own happiness.”

“Many of our miseries are merely comparative: we are often made unhappy, not by the presence of any real evil, but by the absence of some fictitious good; of something which is not required by any real want of nature, which has not in itself any power of gratification, and which neither reason nor fancy would have prompted us to wish, did we not see it in the possession of others.”

Want Made Real Reason Evil Wish Misery Possession Absence Unhappy Fancy Consumerism Gratification Overconsumption

Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.: D., with an Essay on His Life and Genius

Source: The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.: D., with an Essay on His Life and Genius

“Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a commodity, experiences his life forces as an investment which must bring him the maximum profit obtainable under existing market conditions.”

Men Has Beens Force Modern Conditions Fellows Investment Profit Transformed Consumerism Commodity Maximum Fellow Man Overconsumption Modern Man

Book:THE ART OF LOVING

Source: THE ART OF LOVING

“Plenty is the original cause of many of our needs; and even the poverty, which is so frequent and distressful in civilized nations, proceeds often from that change of manners which opulence has produced. Nature makes us poor only when we want necessaries; but custom gives the name of poverty to the want of superfluities.”

Want Needs Giving Names Nations Causes Poor Poverty Originals Plenty Manners Civilized Customs Consumerism Overconsumption Opulence Civilized Nations

Book:The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752

Source: The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752

“Roughly two billion people participate in the money economy, with less than half of those living in the wealthy countries of the developed world. These affluent 800 million, however, account for more than 75 percent of the world's energy and resource consumption, and also create the bulk of its industrial, toxic, and consumer waste.”

People World Two Country Energy Half Millions Economy Waste Percent Resources Accounts Billions Consumers Wealthy Toxic Consumption Consumerism Overconsumption Affluent

Author:Stuart L. Hart

“The essence of greatness is neglect of the self.”

Self Acceptance Greatness Essence Neglect Transcendentalism

Author:James Anthony Froude

“Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and raiment; the surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveller, but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be content with his daily allowance.”

Source: Morning and Evening

“That the happiness of man may still remain imperfect, as wants in this place are easily supplied, new wants likewise are easily created; every man, in surveying the shops of London, sees numberless instruments and conveniencies, of which, while he did not know them, he never felt the need; and yet, when use has made them familiar, wonders how life could be supported without them. Thus it comes to pass, that our desires always increase with our possessions; the knowledge that something remains yet unenjoyed, impairs our enjoyment of the good before us.”

Source: The Works of Samuel Johnson: The Adventurer and Idler

“The money economy thus leaves a large ecological footprint, defined as the amount of land and resources required to meet a typical consumer's needs. For example, with only about 4% of the world's population, the United States, the largest money economy, consumes in excess of one-quarter of the world's energy and materials and generates in excess of 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.”