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

Voluntary simplicity has more to do with the state of mind than a person's physical surroundings and possessions.

Simplicity of living, if deliberately chosen, implies a compassionate approach to life. It means that we are choosing to live our daily lives with some degree of conscious appreciation of the condition of the rest of the world.

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

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.

David Shi (historian of the simple life) describes the common denominator among the various approaches to simpler living as the understanding that the making of money and the accumulation of things should not smother the purity of the soul, the life of the mind, the cohesion of the family, or the good of the society.

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.