“A disappointment is not generally an oversight. It might just be the best one can do the situation being what it is. The genuine error is to quit attempting.”

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

…not everyone is willing to defend a position of ‘not knowing.’ There is no virtue in ignorance for its own sake.

I may say that the only differences I expect to see revealed between the behavior of the rat and man (aside from enormous differences of complexity) lie in the field of verbal behavior.

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.

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.

Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.

The simplest and most satisfactory view is that thought is simply behavior – verbal or nonverbal, covert or overt. It is not some mysterious process responsible for behavior but the very behavior itself in all the complexity of its controlling relations.

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.

Problem-solving typically involves the construction of discriminative stimuli

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

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

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

Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.

Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.

Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.

To say that behaviors have different ‘meanings’ is only another way of saying that they are controlled by different variables.

I spent three of the best years of my life in 10th grade.

Habit is the best thing for you if you’re trying to write prose.

Any top-level athlete, it’s always the same. There’s always that hint of arrogance there… It’s hard to be humble when you’re the best.

The best and brightest don’t go into politics. The best and brightest are at Goldman Sachs.

The best parts about writing a show are [its] first, second and 10th anniversaries.

I have procured air [oxygen] between five and six times as good as the best common air that I have ever met with.

Some say it is best not to go near the center of time.

That’s what I do this for, to secure my family’s future. I don’t care about anything else. I’m able to spoil people, and that’s the best thing.