We face the question whether a still higher “standard of living” is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free. – Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949

Pearls around the neck – stones upon the heart. – Hanan J. Ayalti, Yiddish Proverbs, 1949

Luxury… corrupts at once rich and poor, the rich by possession and the poor by covetousness. – Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1762