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. SKINNERIt is a mistake to suppose that the whole issue is how to free man. The issue is to improve the way in which he is controlled.
More B. F. Skinner Quotes
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Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about.
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A permissive government is a government that leaves control to other sources.
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A first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: when you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it.
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When we say that a man controls himself, we must specify who is controlling whom.
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We have seen that in certain respects operant reinforcement resembles the natural selection of evolutionary theory. Just as genetic characteristics which arise as mutations are selected or discarded by their consequences, so novel forms of behavior are selected or discarded through reinforcement.
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Behavior is determined by its consequences.
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Science is a willingness to accept facts even when they are opposed to wishes.
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A fourth-grade reader may be a sixth-grade mathematician. The grade is an administrative device which does violence to the nature of the developmental process.
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We have not yet seen what man can make of man.
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It is not a question of starting. The start has been made. It’s a question of what’s to be done from now on.
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I did not direct my life. I didn’t design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That’s what life is.
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Going out of style isn’t a natural process, but a manipulated change which destroys the beauty of last year’s dress in order to make it worthless.
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A permissive government is a government that leaves control to other sources.
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The major difference between rats and people is that rats learn from experience.
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An important fact about verbal behavior is that speaker and listener may reside within the same skin.
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The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.
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Do not intervene between a person and the consequences of their own behavior.
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Men build society and society builds men.
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Old age is rather like another country. You will enjoy it more if you have prepared yourself before you go.
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At this very moment enormous numbers of intelligent men and women of goodwill are trying to build a better world. But problems are born faster than they can be solved.
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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.
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It is a mistake to suppose that the whole issue is how to free man. The issue is to improve the way in which he is controlled.
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That’s all teaching is; arranging contingencies which bring changes in behavior.
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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.
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Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.
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I’ve often said that my rats have taught me much more than I’ve taught them.
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