Your liberals and radicals all want to govern. They want to try it their way- to show that people will be happier if the power is wielded in a different way or for different purposes. But how do they know? Have they ever tried it? No, it’s merely their guess.

— B. F. Skinner

B. F. Skinner Quotes

A culture must be reasonably stable, but it must also change, and it will presumably be strongest if it can avoid excessive respect for tradition and fear of novelty on the one hand and excessively rapid change on the other.

— B. F. Skinner

When we say that a man controls himself, we must specify who is controlling whom.

— B. F. Skinner

We admire people to the extent that we cannot explain what they do, and the word ‘admire’ then means ‘marvel at.’

— B. F. Skinner

A vast technology has been developed to prevent, reduce, or terminate exhausting labor and physical damage. It is now dedicated to the production of the most trivial conveniences and comfort.

— B. F. Skinner

It is a surprising fact that those who object most violently to the manipulation of behaviour nevertheless make the most vigorous effort to manipulate minds.

— B. F. Skinner

The mob rushes in where individuals fear to tread.

— B. F. Skinner

In the world at large we seldom vote for a principle or a given state of affairs. We vote for a man who pretends to believe in that principle or promises to achieve that state. We don’t want a man, we want a condition of peace and plenty – or, it may be, war and want – but we must vote for a man.

— B. F. Skinner

A scientist may not be sure of the answer, but he’s often sure he can find one. And that’s a condition which is clearly not enjoyed by philosophy.

— B. F. Skinner

Death does not trouble me. I have no fear of supernatural punishments, of course, nor could I enjoy an eternal life in which there would be nothing left for me to do, the task of living having been accomplished.

— B. F. Skinner

The world’s a poor standard. any society which is free of hunger and violence looks bright against that background.

— B. F. Skinner

The extent to which human aggression exemplifies innate tendencies is not clear.

— B. F. Skinner

Your liberals and radicals all want to govern. They want to try it their way- to show that people will be happier if the power is wielded in a different way or for different purposes. But how do they know? Have they ever tried it? No, it’s merely their guess.

— B. F. Skinner

Society already possesses the psychological techniques needed to obtain universal observance of a code – a code which would guarantee the success of a community or state. The difficulty is that these techniques are in the hands of the wrong people-or, rather, there aren’t any right people.

— B. F. Skinner

A first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: when you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it.

— B. F. Skinner

The human species took a crucial step forward when its vocal musculature came under operant control in the production of speech sounds. Indeed, it is possible that all the distinctive achievements of the species can be traced to that one genetic change.

— B. F. Skinner

Science, not religion, has taught me my most useful values, among them intellectual honesty. It is better to go without answers than to accept those that merely resolve puzzlement.

— B. F. Skinner

If the world is to save any part of its resources for the future, it must reduce not only consumption but the number of consumers.

— B. F. Skinner

We have not yet seen what man can make of man.

— B. F. Skinner

Let men be happy, informed, skillful, well behaved, and productive.

— B. F. Skinner

A piece of music is an experience to be taken by itself.

— B. F. Skinner
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