Michelle

“Apprentices Needed, Not Disciples
For many, the knowledge of a Jesus, a Lao-tzu, a Buddha, or a Gandhi is complete and unassailable. But we do them and their vision a disservice when we follow them rather than using what they have taught to build upon as we strive toward our goal of a better society.”
― William S. Coperthwaite, A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity

“ Those who guide us, who inspire us, having gone our way before, are now partners with us in building a better world. Any success we have is theirs as well as ours. To copy or imitate them should be only the beginning-the apprentice stage of life. It is fine to think, "what will a Shaker do? What would Scott Nearing have said? What would Gandhi have thought?" These are good exercises for the mind, a way of weighing ideas and contemplated actions, valuable so long as we do not follow anyone blindly.
Only by standing on their shoulders can we build a better world, but we should use the wise as advisers, not masters.”
― William S. Coperthwaite, A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity

“The stronger a culture, the less it fears the radical fringe. The more paranoid and precarious a culture, the less tolerance it offers.”
― Joel Salatin, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front

“When we merely follow another, we take a potentially creative mind out of service-our own. ”
― William S. Coperthwaite, A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity