In a world where nearly one billion people live near the edge of physical survival the relevance of intentional simplicity by the more affluent people of the world cannot be over estimated.

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.

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.

The essence of voluntary simplicity is living in a way what is outwardly simple and inwardly rich.

Simplicity means to choose ways of living that touch the Earth more lightly and that reduce our ecological footprint.

Simplicity means to feel such a sense of kinship with others that we choose to live simply so that others may simply live.

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.

We are the leaders that we have been waiting for. We are the social innovators and entrepreneurs that we have been seeking.

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.

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

I consciously started to live simply when I started to become conscious.

It is no idle phrase that man was made in God's image. There is something worth saving in the worst of us, and out of this something a new man may be fashioned.

In order to pick something up, you've got to put something down.

I venture to suggest that patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.

Whenever a songwriter writes a big hit, then the next 20 songs they write - no matter how bad they are - get recorded.

Our concept of governing is derived from our view of people. It is a concept deeply rooted in a set of beliefs firmly etched in the national conscience, of all of us.

Traveling would be quite perfect if only one could go home at night.

What's worse than brutality that dehumanizes women? Tolerance and indifference towards it.

If we're 15 minutes into a lifeless, redundant, status-based 1:1 and I don't have anything sitting in my back pocket, I'm going to turn it into a performance review.

Thought is the soul of act.

Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires.