The 107+ B. F. Skinner Quotes

Many Social Practices Essential To The Welfare Of The Species Involve The Control Of One Person By Another, And No One Can Suppress Them Who Has Any Concern For Human Achievements

Must We Wait For Selection To Solve The Problems Of Overpopulation, Exhaustion Of Resources, Pollution Of The Environment And A Nuclear Holocaust, Or Can We Take Explicit Steps To Make Our Future More Secure? In The Latter Case, Must We Not Transcend Selection?

The World's A Poor Standard. Any Society Which Is Free Of Hunger And Violence Looks Bright Against That Background.

The Extent To Which Human Aggression Exemplifies Innate Tendencies Is Not Clear.

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.

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.

Something Doing Every Minute' May Be A Gesture Of Despair-or The Height Of A Battle Against Boredom.

Overcrowding Can Be Corrected Only By Inducing People Not To Crowd, And The Environment Will Continue To Deteriorate Until Polluting Practices Are Abandoned.

A Permissive Government Is A Government That Leaves Control To Other Sources.

The Speaker Does Not Feel The Grammatical Rules He Is Said To Apply In Composing Sentences, And Men Spoke Grammatically For Thousands Of Years Before Anyone Knew There Were Rules.

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.

The Evolution Of Cultures Appears To Follow The Pattern Of The Evolution Of Species. The Many Different Forms Of Culture Which Arise Correspond To The "mutations" Of Genetic Theory. Some Forms Prove To Be Effective Under Prevailing Circumstances And Others Not, And The Perpetuation Of The Culture Is Determined Accordingly.