diff --git a/lib/compass.rb b/lib/compass.rb
index f9375ba0..bb85f181 100644
--- a/lib/compass.rb
+++ b/lib/compass.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 module Compass
 end
 
-%w(dependencies util sass_extensions core_ext version errors).each do |lib|
+%w(dependencies util sass_extensions core_ext version errors quick_cache).each do |lib|
   require "compass/#{lib}"
 end
 
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ module Compass
     File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__)))
   end
   module_function :base_directory, :lib_directory
+  extend QuickCache
 end
 
 %w(configuration frameworks app_integration actions compiler sprites).each do |lib|
diff --git a/lib/compass/quick_cache.rb b/lib/compass/quick_cache.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..717690e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/compass/quick_cache.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+module QuickCache
+
+  # cache a value in memory for just a few seconds
+  # This can speed up reads of values that change relatively infrequently
+  # but might be read many times in a short burst of reads.
+  def quick_cache(key, ttl = 1)
+    @quick_cache ||= {}
+    if @quick_cache[key] && @quick_cache[key].first > Time.now - ttl
+      @quick_cache[key].last
+    else
+      (@quick_cache[key] = [Time.now, yield]).last
+    end
+  end
+
+end