Wisdom in Smallness

Small-scale operations, no matter how numerous, are always less likely to be harmful to the natural environment than large-scale ones, simply because their force is small in relation to the recuperative forces of nature. There is wisdom in smallness if only on the account of the smallness and patchiness of human knowledge, which relies on experiment far more than understanding. The greatest danger invariably arises from the ruthless application, on a vast scale, of partial knowledge such as we are currently witnessing in the application of nuclear energy, of the new chemistry in agriculture, of transportation technology, and countless other things.

E.F. Schumacher in Small is Beautiful 1974, p.29