To say that behaviors have different ‘meanings’ is only another way of saying that they are controlled by different variables.
B. F. SKINNERThat’s all teaching is; arranging contingencies which bring changes in behavior.
More B. F. Skinner Quotes
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When we say that a man controls himself, we must specify who is controlling whom.
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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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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.
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The only geniuses produced by the chaos of society are those who do something about it. Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about.
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Twenty-five hundred years ago it might have been said that man understood himself as well as any other part of the world. Today he is the thing he understands least.
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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.
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To require a citizen to sign a loyalty oath is to destroy some of the loyalty he could otherwise claim, since any subsequent loyal behavior may then be attributed to the oath.
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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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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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The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.
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That’s all teaching is; arranging contingencies which bring changes in behavior.
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When we say that a man controls himself, we must specify who is controlling whom.
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No one asks how to motivate a baby. A baby naturally explores everything it can get at, unless restraining forces have already been at work. And this tendency doesn’t die out, it’s wiped out.
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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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We admire people to the extent that we cannot explain what they do, and the word ‘admire’ then means ‘marvel at.’
B. F. SKINNER







