The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency

I've been reading this book, written by John Seymour and published by Corgi Books in the U.K.  Following are excerpts from the first chapter, titled The Way to Self Sufficiency.

"Now self-sufficiency is not "going back" . . . it is going forward to a new and better sort of life . . .a life that brings challenge and the use of daily initiative back to work, and variety, and occasional great success and occasional abysmal failure.  It means the acceptance of complete responsibility for what you do or what you do not do."

"it is the striving for a higher standard of living, for food which is fresh and organically grown and good, for the good life in pleasant surrounds, for the health of body and peace of mind which come with hard varied work in the open air, and for the satisfaction that comes from doing difficult and intricate jobs well and successfully."

"we will one day have to derive our sustenance from what the land, unaided by oil-derived chemicals, can produce.  We may not wish in the future to maintain a standard of living that depends entirely on elaborate and expensive equipment and machinery but we will always want to maintain a high standard of living in the things that really matter - good food, clothing, shelter, health, happiness, and fun with other people.  The land can support us, and it can do it without huge applications of artificial chemicals and manures and the use of expensive machinery.  But everyone who owns a piece of land should husband that land as wisely, knowledgeably, and intensively as possible.  The so-called "self-supporter" sitting among a riot of docks and thistles talking philosophy ought to go back to town.  He is not doing any good at all, and is occupying land which should be occupied by somebody who can really use it."

"Man should be a husbandman, not an exploiter.  This planet is not exclusively for our own use.  To destroy every form of life except such forms as are obviously directly of use to us is immoral, and ultimately quite possibly, will contribute to our own destruction."

"Man was not meant to be a one job animal.  We do not thrive as parts of a machine.  We are intended by nature to be diverse, to do diverse things, to have many skills."