Physics does not change the nature of the world it studies, and no science of behavior can change the essential nature of man, even though both sciences yield technologies with a vast power to manipulate the subject matters.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Manners, Behavior
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Learning, Education
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
Topics: Failure
Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Society, Civilization
On artificial intelligence: the real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Thoughts, Computers, Thinking, Intelligence
The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Consequences
We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Book
Give me a child and I’ll shape him into anything.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Influence, Leadership
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Howard Gardner American Psychologist
Timothy Leary American Psychologist
Carl Rogers American Psychologist
Martin Seligman American Psychologist
Orval Hobart Mowrer American Psychologist
Abraham Maslow American Psychologist
George W. Crane American Psychologist
Bruno Bettelheim Austrian-born Psychoanalyst
Erich Fromm German Social Philosopher
Erik Erikson German-born American Psychoanalyst