B. F. Skinner

“We 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.”

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

“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 (1904-1990)

“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.”

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

“Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten.”

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

“A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.”

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

“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.”

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

“The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.”

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

“Democracy is the spawn of despotism. And like father, like son. Democracy is power and rule. It's not the will of the people, remember; it's the will of the majority.”

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

"Behavior is determined by its consequences."

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

"The major difference between rats and people is that rats learn from experience."

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

"Science is a willingness to accept facts even when they are opposed to wishes."

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

"Was putting a man on the moon actually easier than improving education in our public schools?"

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

"The problem of far greater importance remains to be solved. Rather than build a world in which we shall all live well, we must stop building one in which it will be impossible to live at all."

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

"A first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: when you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it."

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

"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."

— B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)