small is beautiful

small is beautiful

The belief, perspective, or mindset that things of a smaller scale are more aesthetically pleasing than those of a larger scale. Can be hyphenated if used before a noun as a modifier. The famed architect always incorporates a small-is-beautiful philosophy into all the buildings he designs. A lot of people think they need a big car as a status symbol, but I've always believed that small is beautiful.
See also: beautiful, small
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

small is beautiful

the belief that something small-scale is better than a large-scale equivalent.
Small is Beautiful is the title of a book by E. F. Schumacher , published in 1973 . The phrase is best known through its adoption as a slogan by environmentalists.
See also: beautiful, small
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • bud scale
  • Scales
  • on a biblical scale
  • in miniature
  • war to end all wars
  • a war to end all wars
  • mushroom into
  • mushroom into (something)
  • phase down
  • scale back
References in periodicals archive
A BEAUTY entrepreneur has proved that small is beautiful by taking a national trade award.
Beauty is a winner for Susan
EF Schumacher's book, Small is Beautiful, made a deep impression on me when I first read it years ago while living in Jamaica.
Letters
These big institutions, Mahn says, have a one-size-fits-ail approach to development, and are now looking to HPI and other smaller organizations for "small is beautiful" guidance.
THE HEIFER PROJECT: COWS 'R US
After CAT, St George stayed in the environmental field, eventually leading the Schumacher society--an organization set up to promote the philosophy of EF Schumacher (who wrote the seminal book Small is beautiful in the mid-Seventies).
Working for a small-is-beautiful world: a narrow brush with death led Richard St George to devote his life to conservation. The Director of the Schumacher Society talks to Caz and Sandy Hore-Ruthven. (Profile II)