A Quaker Book of Wisdom Quotes

“Simplicity, like all virtues, is valuable because it is useful. I have come to understand that making life simpler does for our minds what getting in shape does for our bodies. It makes us feel more in control, more centered, more effective. And as with getting into shape, you have to want it sincerely, and you have to work at it consciously every day.”
― Robert Lawrence Smith, A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Life Lessons In Simplicity, Service, And Common Sense

“And as customers, we will always have to take responsibility for the power of our pocketbooks. We like the idea of supporting a small bookstore or local hardware store, but are we willing to forgo the discounts offered by the chains? Will we buy clothing from a line that exploits its workers? What kind of message will we send a manufacturer who has a history of flouting environmental laws? Every time we punch a time clock, sign a paycheck, or use a credit card, we have an opportunity to let our life speak. What do we want to say?”
― Robert Lawrence Smith, A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Life Lessons In Simplicity, Service, And Common Sense

“I think it’s interesting to note that courses in business ethics are taught in the best graduate schools of business, which I see as mainstream acceptance of the principle that practicing good ethics is good business. As employers, we are still pretty much on our own as we continue to face daily challenges to our conscience, our integrity, our honesty, and our sense of fair play. Will we provide health insurance to employees, even if the law doesn’t require it? How “creative” will we be in our accounting? Will we carry employees through hard times, or leave them to fend for themselves? As employees, we will still need to find meaning and take pride in our work. Will we serve customers poorly or well? Will we create goods and services with care or carelessly? Will we make our daily labor the expression of the best that is in us, or the worst?”
― Robert Lawrence Smith, A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Life Lessons In Simplicity, Service, And Common Sense

“the case for a cooperative business strategy in few words: “The spirit of brotherhood and service should lead all who are engaged in industry to regard each other not as antagonists struggling to win advantages from each other, but as co-operators, sharing with one another in their common purpose to serve their community.”
― Robert Lawrence Smith, A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Life Lessons In Simplicity, Service, And Common Sense

“The Quaker business model seeks cooperation, while recognizing the need to compete. Instead of seeing their workers and customers as adversaries, they view them as partners. Quaker businesspeople understand that they are accountable to the individuals they employ, the customers they serve, the community they share, and their own conscience. Not surprisingly, this adds up to both good citizenship and good business.”
― Robert Lawrence Smith, A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Life Lessons In Simplicity, Service, And Common Sense

“The roll call of ancestors,” he wrote, “includes no figures of outstanding importance in history.” Rather, he said, what his book did provide was “a record of men and women who lived active, useful lives, and who gave to their nation and their communities the best that was in them.”
― Robert Lawrence Smith, A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Life Lessons In Simplicity, Service, And Common Sense

“It is my ever-growing conviction that the compassionate Quaker message badly needs to be heard in today’s complex, materialistic, often unjust, and discriminatory society.”
― Robert Lawrence Smith, A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Life Lessons In Simplicity, Service, And Common Sense