“To organize work in such a manner that it becomes meaningless, boring, stultifying, or nerve-racking for the worker would be little short of criminal; it would indicate a greater concern with goods than with people, an evil lack of compassion and a soul-destroying degree of attachment to the most primitive side of this worldly existence.”

— E. F. Schumacher , book A Guide for the Perplexed

A Guide for the Perplexed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "To organize work in such a manner that it becomes meaningless, boring, stultifying, or nerve-racking for the worker wou…" by E. F. Schumacher?

E. F. Schumacher photo

E. F. Schumacher 16

British economist 1911–1977

Related quotes

“The soul must accept guilt in order to destroy existing evil, lest it incur the greater guilt of idyllic withdrawal, of seeming to be good by putting up with wrong.”

Ernst Bloch (1885–1977) German philosopher

Aber es steht doch in der Regel so, daß die Seele schuldig werden muß, um das schlecht Bestehende zu vernichten, um nicht durch idyllischen Rückzug, scheingute Duldung des Unrechts noch schuldiger zu werden.
Source: Man on His Own: Essays in the Philosophy of Religion (1959), p. 36

“Might I indicate the difficulty which some of us feel over collective compassion? The good Samaritan had compassion. If two good Samaritans had compassion, that would still be individual compassion, not collective compassion. If the good Samaritan had been obliged by decree of the Roman Emperor to assist the traveller, that would not be compassion at all, because it would be done under obligation.”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1979/may/22/the-economy-pay-and-prices#S5CV0967P0_19790522_HOC_260 in the House of Commons (22 May 1979)
1970s

“I still lack to a considerable degree that naturally superior kind of manner that I would dearly like to possess.”

Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) Nazi officer, Commander of the SS

Diary entry (November 1921), quoted in The Hidden Files (1992) by Derek Raymond
1920s

“More than the topography and cartography of organization would be necessary to understand the executive functions; a knowledge of the kinds and qualities of the forces at work and the manner of their operation would also be needed.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. viii

“It is on account neither of God's weakness nor ignorance that evil comes into the world, but rather it is due to the order of his wisdom and the greatness of his goodness that diverse grades of goodness occur in things, many of which would be lacking if no evil were permitted. Indeed, the good of patience would not exist without the evil of persecution; nor the good of preservation of life in a lion if not for the evil of the destruction of the animals on which it lives.”

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican scholastic philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church

De Potentia (On Power) q. 3, art. 6, ad 4

“There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distill it out.”

William Shakespeare Henry V

Source: Henry V

“If ancient descent could confer nobility, the lower forms of life would possess it in a greater degree than man.”

John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) Catholic bishop

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 181

“O Man, who will discern in this work of mine the wonderful works of Nature, if you think it would be a criminal thing to destroy it, reflect how much more criminal it is to take the life of a man; and if this, his external form, appears to thee marvellously constructed, remember that it is nothing as compared with the soul that dwells in that structure; for that indeed, be it what it may, is a thing divine. Leave it then to dwell in His work at His good will and pleasure, and let not your rage or malice destroy a life — for indeed, he who does not value it, does not himself deserve it.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.

“Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

“If everyone gave a tenth of his worldly goods to the person he most admired, the rich would just get richer.”

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist

The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified

Related topics