Almost Amish Quotes

“The Amish are islands of sanity in a whirlpool of change.”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish

“To air dry clothes by choice is countercultural. And who, more than any other group in twenty-first-century America, is both countercultural and committed to air drying clothes? Has intact families? Healthy communities? Gardens, home-cooked meals, and uncluttered homes? Restrained use of technology, strong local economies, and almost nonexistent debt? Most of all, what group has kept simplicity, service, and faith at the center of all they say and do? The Amish! All of which led to my epiphany: few of us can become Amish, but all of us can become almost Amish.”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life

“Proverbs 22:6—“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life

“Within Amish communities, the divorce rate is less than one percent,”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life

“And heaven forbid that a long-lost friend should spontaneously stop by without making arrangements in advance.”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life

“We have heard people speak in tongues and we have sat with those who worship without speaking at all.”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life

“Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? St. Augustine (354–430), De Civit. Dei, Book XVI”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life

“We live simply so others may simply live. Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without. Take all you want, eat all you take. He who has no money is poor; he who has nothing but money is even poorer. There are no degrees of honesty. A man is rich in proportion to the things he can afford to leave alone. If you are true to your faith, there are things you give up for your faith. Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs at your door forever. Generosity leaves a much better taste than stinginess. Before we can pray “Thy Kingdom come,” we must first pray “My Kingdom go.”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life

“Almost all my clothes are secondhand. The reason: I cannot justify the huge amount of water, fossil fuels, and chemicals that go into manufacturing, shipping, displaying, and advertising the clothes that fill our malls. Killing the planet so I can look fashionable just does not seem like a good trade-off.”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life

“Relationships, rather than résumé building, became both the means and the end.”
― Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life