Inspirational Quotes by B. F. Skinner (American Psychologist)

Give me a child and I’ll shape him into anything.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Influence, Leadership

We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Book

Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Society, Civilization

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

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

On artificial intelligence: the real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Thoughts, Computers, Thinking, Intelligence

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Education, Learning

The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.
—B. F. Skinner
Topics: Consequences

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