Quotes from Masanobu Fukuoka

If nature is left to itself, fertility increases. Organic remains of plants and animals accumulate and are decomposed on the surface by bacteria and fungi. With the movement of rainwater, the nutrients are taken deep into the soil to become food for microorganisms, earthworms, and other small animals. Plant roots reach to the lower soil strata and draw the nutrients back up to the surface.

When a decision is made to cope with the symptoms of a problem, it is generally assumed that the corrective measures will solve the problem itself. They seldom do.

If we throw mother nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork.

Kebudayaan yang benar dilahirkan di alam, sederhana, rendah hati, dan murni

I believe that even 'returning-to-nature' and anti pollution activities, no matter how commendable, are not moving toward a genuine solution if they are carried out solely in reaction to the over development of the present age.

bukannya teknik bertanam yang merupakan faktor yang paling penting, melainkan lebih kepada pikiran petaninya.

I believe that if one fathoms deeply one's own neighborhood and the everyday world in which he lives, the greatest of worlds will be revealed.

We can never know the answers to great spiritual questions, but it's all right not to understand. We have been born and are living on the earth to face directly the reality of living.

In nature's cyclical rhythms, there are no grounds for the discriminatory view that underlies Darwin's view of superiority and inferiority that deems single-celled organisms as lower, and more complicated life forms as higher. It would be more appropriate to say we are all one continuous life-form.

Until there is a reversal of the sense of values which cares more for size and appearance than for quality, there will be no solving the problem of food pollution.

Just to live here and now—this is the true basis of human life.

Wajah alam merupakan sesuatu yang tidak dapat dikenal

The heart that loves the wicked ego creates the hated enemy.

Kenyataanya ilmu diet barat menciptakan masalah-masalah yang jauh lebih banyak daripada memecahkannya

Orang sekarang ini makan dengan pikiran mereka, tidak dengan tubuh mereka

The simple hearth of the small farm is the true center of our universe.

My ultimate dream is to sow seeds in the desert. To revegetate the deserts is to sow seed in people's hearts.

One thing is all things. To resolve one matter, one must resolve all matters. Changing one thing changes all things. Once I made the decision to sow rice in the fall, I found that I could also stop transplanting, and plowing, and applying chemical fertilizers, and preparing compost, and spraying pesticides.

The greening of the desert means sowing seeds in people's hearts and creating a green paradise of peace on earth.

Extravagance of desire is the fundamental cause which has led the world into its present predicament. Fast rather than slow, more rather than less—this flashy "development" is linked directly to society's impending collapse.

Humanity knows nothing at all. There is no intrinsic value in anything, and every action is a futile, meaningless effort.

In olden times there were warriors, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants. Agriculture was said to be closer to the source of things than trade or manufacturing, and the farmer was said to be "the cupbearer of the gods." He was always able to get by somehow or other and have enough to eat.

If we do have a food crisis it will not be caused by the insufficiency of nature's productive power, but by the extravagance of human desire.

Why do you have to develop? If economic growth rises from 5% to 10%, is happiness going to double? What's wrong with a growth rate of 0%? Isn't this a rather stable kind of economics? Could there be anything better than living simply and taking it easy?