EF Schumacher quotes: top famous quotes and sayings by EF Schumacher

Top EF Schumacher Quotes

Browse top 15 most favorite famous quotes and sayings by EF Schumacher.

Favorite EF Schumacher Quotes

1. "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." ~ E.F. Schumacher

2. "The real problems of our planet are not economic or technical, they are philosophical. The philosophy of unbridled materialism is being challenged by events." ~ E.F. Schumacher

3. "What do I miss, as a human being, if I have never heard of the Second Law of Thermodynamics? The answer is: Nothing. And what do I miss by not knowing Shakespeare? Unless I get my understanding from another source, I simply miss my life. Shall we tell our children that one thing is as good as another-- here a bit of knowledge of physics, and there a bit of knowledge of literature? If we do so, the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation, because that normally is the time it takes from the birth of an idea to its full maturity when it fills the minds of a new generation and makes them think by it.Science cannot produce ideas by which we could live." ~ E.F. Schumacher

4. "Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology toward the organic, the gentle, the elegant and beautiful." ~ E.F. Schumacher

5. "Any intelligent fool can invent further complications, but it takes a genius to retain, or recapture, simplicity." ~ E.F. Schumacher

6. "Education can help us only if it produces "whole 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 very little detailed knowledge of facts & 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 his inner clarity." ~ E.F. Schumacher

7. "Call a thing immoral or ugly, soul-destroying or a degradation to man, a peril to the peace of the world or to the well-being of future generations: as long as you have not shown it to be "uneconomic" you have not really questioned its right to exist, grow, and prosper." ~ E.F. Schumacher

8. "Our ordinary mind always tried to persuade us that we are nothing but acorns and that our greatest happiness will be to become bigger, fatter, shinier acorns; but this is of interest only to pigs. Our faith gives us knowledge of something better: that we can become oak trees." ~ E.F. Schumacher

9. "Every increase of needs tends to increase one's independence on outside forces over which one cannont have control and therefore increases existential fear" ~ E.F. Schumacher

10. "An ounce of practice is generally worth more than a ton of theory." ~ E.F. Schumacher

11. "Real life consists of the tensions produced by the incompatibility of opposites, each of which is needed" ~ E.F. Schumacher

12. "Any fool can make things complicated, it requires a genius to make things simple" ~ E.F. Schumacher

13. "Much of the economic decay of southeast Asia (as of many other parts of the world) is undoubtedly due to a heedless and shameful neglect of trees." ~ E.F. Schumacher

14. "The all-pervading disease of the modern world is the total imbalance between city and countryside, an imbalance in terms of wealth, power, culture, attraction and hope. The former has become over-extended and the latter has atrophied. The city has become the universal magnet, while rural life has lost its savour. Yet it remains an unalterable truth that, just as a sound mind depends on a sound body, so the health of the cities depends on the health of the rural areas. The cities, with all their wealth, are merely secondary producers, while primary production, the precondition of all economic life, takes place in the countryside. The prevailing lack of balance, based on the age-old exploitation of countryman and raw material producer, today threatens all countries throughout the world, the rich even more than the poor. To restore a proper balance between city and rural life is perhaps the greatest task in front of modern man." ~ E.F. Schumacher

15. "Education which fails to clarify our central convictions is mere training or indulgence. For it is our central convictions that are in disorder, and, as long as the present anti-metaphysical temper persists, the disorder will grow worse. Education, far from ranking as man's greatest resource, will then be an agent of destruction." ~ E.F. Schumacher

E.F. Schumacher Quotes Pictures

<< Kit Reed Quotes

Ian Wilson Quotes >>

Today's Quote

A curtain of stars, miles of them, are scattered, glowing, across the sky and their multitude humbles me, which I have a hard time tolerating. She shrugs and nods after I say something about forms of anxiety. It's as if her mind is having a hard time communicating with her mouth, as if she is searching for a rational analysis of who I am, which is, of course, an impossibility: there... is... no... key."
Author: Bret Easton Ellis