“We can do things for ourselves or we can pay others to do them for us. These are the two systems that support us; we might call them the self-reliance system and the organisation system. All societies support themselves by a mixture of the two systems, but the proportions vary.
Total self-sufficiency is as unbalanced and ultimately stultifying as total organisation. The pioneers show us what can be done, and it is for every one of us to decide what should be done, that is to say, what we should do to restore some kind of balance to our existence.
To grow or make some things by myself, for myself: what fun, what exhilaration, what liberation from any feelings of utter dependence! What an education of the real person! To be in touch with actual processes of creation.” – E.F. Schumacher