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. SKINNERWe shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.
More B. F. Skinner Quotes
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I don’t believe in God, so I’m not afraid of dying.
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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’ve often said that my rats have taught me much more than I’ve taught them.
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The one fact that I would cry form every housetop is this: the Good Life is waiting for us – here and now.
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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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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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If you’re old, don’t try to change yourself, change your environment.
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Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
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A person’s genetic endowment, a product of the evolution of the species, is said to explain part of the workings of his mind and his personal history the rest.
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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.
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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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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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To say that behaviors have different ‘meanings’ is only another way of saying that they are controlled by different variables.
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A permissive government is a government that leaves control to other sources.
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A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.
B. F. SKINNER