Quotes from Duane Elgin

Compassion will no longer be seen as a spiritual luxury for a contemplative few; rather it will be viewed as a social necessity for the entire human family.

Living simply is not about living in poverty or self-inflicted deprivation. It's about living an examined life where one has determined what is truly important and enough … and then just let go of all the rest.

Satisfactions are fulfillment of the heart. Dissatisfactions are the rumblings of the mind.

Exploring a transformational scenario is a demanding exercise in social imagination that requires compassion, persistence, and patience. This is difficult work.

Who are we as a species? What evolutionary journey are we on? Do we have the inner potentials to meet the demands of the outer world? Can we rise in our maturity and grow into a healing and healthy relationship with the Earth?

Poverty is mean and degrading to the human spirit, whereas a life of conscious simplicity can have both a beauty and a functional integrity that elevates the human spirit.

Our life is frittered away by detail Simplify, simplify." Or, as Plato wrote, "In order to seek one's own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.

To consciously evolve, we require clear vision of a compassionate future that draws out our enthusiastic participation in life.

To me, voluntary simplicity means integration and awareness in my life.

The character of a whole society is the cumulative result of countless small actions, day in and day out, of millions of persons.

Only after people express their anger and sadness over the broken dreams of material prosperity will they turn to the task of building a sustainable economy.

We live almost completely immersed in a socially constructed reality that so fully absorbs our energy and attention that virtually none remains to experience the wonder of our existence.