B. F. Skinner Quotations

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.

The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

The environment will continue to deteriorate until pollution practices are abandoned.

The feeling of being interested can act as a kind of neurological signal, directing us to fruitful areas of inquiry.

If you're old, don't try to change yourself, change your environment.

Give me a child and I'll shape him into anything.

We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.

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

When you run into something interesting, drop everything else and study it.

I have to tell people that they are not responsible for their behavior. They're not creating it; they're not initiating anything. It's all found somewhere else. That's an awful lot to relinquish.

Even the mundane task of washing dishes by hand is an example of the small tasks and personal activities that once filled people's daily lives with a sense of achievement.

Must we wait for selection to solve the problems of overpopulation, exhaustion of resources, pollution of the environment and a nuclear holocaust, or can we take explicit steps to make our future more secure? In the latter case, must we not transcend selection?

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.

The ideal of behaviorism is to eliminate coercion: to apply controls by changing the environment in such a way as to reinforce the kind of behavior that benefits everyone.

You can get along very well in this world by simply coming up with a quantity of reasonably valid statements.

Behavior used to be reinforced by great deprivation; if people weren't hungry, they wouldn't work. Now we are committed to feeding people whether they work or not. Nor is money as great a reinforcer as it once was. People no longer work for punitive reasons, yet our culture offers no new satisfactions.

I don't deny the importance of genetics. However, the fact that I might be altruistic isn't because I have a gene for altruism; the fact that I do something for my children at some cost to myself comes from a history that has operated on me.

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.

I am opposed to the military use of animals. I am also opposed to the military use of men.

No theory changes what it is a theory about; man remains what he has always been.

If you insist that individual rights are the summum bonum, then the whole structure of society falls down.

I would be opposed to any kind of totalitarian control.

We have not yet seen what man can make of man.

Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.

Those few people who do respond to the dire conditions of the future - journalists, environmentalists, behavioral scientists - tend not to be powerful.

The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.

What is sought can never produce the seeking.

I won't say that I'm an agnostic, since agnosticism maintains that one cannot know... but I'm not averse to the idea of some intelligence or some organizing force that set up the initial conditions of the universe in such a way that ultimately generated stars, planets and life.

I believe that I have been basically anarchistic, anti-religion and anti-industry and business. In other words, anti-bureaucracy. I would like to see people behave well without having to have priests stand by, politicians stand by, or people collecting bills.

I think my novel, 'Walden Two,' has made people stop and look at the culture they have inherited and wonder if it is the last word or whether it can be changed.

Religions work for their own aggrandizement - strengthen the church and so on - and they use reinforcers of one kind or another to get obedience and so on from their communicants.

I don't know whether I want to improve religion or not. I prefer to get rid of it.

I don't think my mother and father ever had any doubts about what I was to be punished for or not. My parents come from a very strictly defined culture.

I remember when I was a freshman in college, I was still somewhat bothered by... worried... about religion. I remember going to this professor of philosophy and telling him that I had lost my faith.

I worked the team finals in 1988. It was pretty cool. It brings back a lot of memories. And I still have a lot of ties there - a lot of family, friends and former teammates.

My hats off to Todd, he ran a good race. I just finished second, what can you say. We ran really good.

Some of my coaches run. Some lift weights. I play basketball. It's what I do.

No one should assume the imminent release of these photos at this point,

Obviously, I would've preferred them to say you're general manager, but I'm hoping that's what I'll get.

Obviously, the most disappointing thing is we just didn't do the things we had to do at the end, communicate. There was a little break down in communication, you know. They didn't have any more time-outs and I didn't think that they could run a play that was going to give them a good enough look that we couldn't defend.

Newspapers across the state have referred to those ads as vile, loathsome, a smear.

Right from the start, it was obvious that Virginia wanted the game. I just think Virginia wanted the game more than we did.

If we play Friday, then everything works out OK. If we have to play Thursday, we'll be put at a huge disadvantage.

Let's face it, he was a beast in there. He just went in there and challenged them. That's what a senior does, he puts you on his back and carries you.

There are only 30 cars. If it was all equalized, some places like P.E.I. or New Brunswick might not get one at all. This is just about trying to create some excitement.

When troops arrived a few weeks ago, they saw a lot of other chains and wondered why we weren't there.

Mike is a perfect fit for the brand because he has been a long time wearer of the Classics range and a fan of the Reebok brand.

Many SWANA members have dealt with the solid waste generated in natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes, ... I think we can pull together a compendium of the most effective techniques that can be used in the areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

So it looks like it all go on as planned.

We've never done anything like this before. It's going to be difficult, but we'll be there as long as the troops need us.

When the star of your series gets killed, everybody wants to know why. Everybody starts opening their eyes.

When they went up by two, our kids could have folded up the tent and quit. I think that's a good testament to these kids. From start to finish, they deserved to win this game.

Guys like Jon were here and working hard when it was not the most fashionable thing to play basketball here at BC. When you see us reach the Sweet Sixteen and advance in the rankings it's because of guys like Jon and others who put in their time and got the most out of their abilities day in and day out.

There are still a few gas bubbles, but they're like you'd get from a can of soda as opposed to mud blowing up from the sides of the banks.

This was one of those days where we weren't playing really well and just brought it together at the right time. I give a lot of credit to our kids for staying with it.

I can't see how any woman can find time to do to herself all the things that must apparently be done to make herself beautiful and, having once done them, how anyone without the strength of mind of a foreign missionary can keep up such a regime.

I don't think anyone thinks these one-time expenditures are going to solve the transportation challenges.

From Tom I really learned I could be the coach I wanted to be while being the person I wanted to be.

Give Florida State credit. They continued to attack. They didn't quit.

Getting to the semifinals for a lot of guys that were there, it wasn't enough. We would like to go farther this year. It's going to come down to whose got the most heart, and you also need a little bit of luck.

I don't understand the discrepancy. You can call whatever you want against us. It's got to be the same on both ends.

I don't think we're crashing their party. We're all part of a new league and you might as well get used to this.

I don't think we're crashing their party. We're part of this. You might as well get used to this. There are some new people in town, and you'll hopefully welcome us with open arms.

I don't care which team you play in this league, there are no trap games.

I don't care which team you play in this league, they're no trap games. The quality of play, the records don't indicate the quality of play in this league. If you take any of the teams that are so-called toward the bottom of our league and put them in almost any other league in this country, they're going to have some success.

I don't know of a better way to lift a team.

I feel they should have been able to provide this information a lot quicker than they did. These kids, the state is their family. The state needs to look out for them, and the state needs to keep track of them.

To finish with just five losses is very pleasing.

When he was in school and worked in the store, I think the interaction between people is really what gained his interest.

Here we are playing great basketball, and you'd think they'd take these things into consideration. From an academic standpoint, it has not served us very well. We're going to have to go to the other side of the country. We have to travel to a different time zone. So, we've got some issues, and we've got to try to limit them as best we can.

We've given them what they asked for and then people take responsibility about whether they add it up or not add it up,

He just made some great shots. Outstanding players do that.

I am honored. The opportunity to serve the listeners of KDNK again is a dream come true for me. I look forward to moving into the future with the dynamic volunteers and the delightful staff at our community access radio station. And I can't wait to get on the air!

If we were to do this, we're essentially saying we're going to take the funding out of the general fund. We're going to take the revenue sources out of education, we're going to take it out of community colleges.

He has a proven track record in our community and has already helped start specific programs that we haven't had in the past.

He has acted on the majority of them so far.

He's doing everything he needs to do and he's just fulfilling his end. It's just a wait-and-see attitude with us to see if he finishes out and does what we ask him to do. If he does, then we can sit down and talk about it and, hopefully, have the type of outcome everybody's looking for.

He's got great hands. He's a tough young man who has a tremendous amount of determination. I mean, his determination is really what makes him the player he is. He's obviously got good qualities - he's got good touch around the basket - but it's his work ethic that allows him to be the quality player he is. I'm just saying I don't think there are many players that play with that type of intensity, particularly freshmen.

He's been very supportive of (Valentine's) candidacy. He thinks she's the best candidate to accomplish the kinds of things he wants to accomplish.

He gives us a big advantage. In the high school game, that play is used a lot, and he executes it nearly perfectly.

He'd rise early and wake me up, drag my butt out of bed. But I was never afraid of competition. I would make him come out with me to play at night.

He finally woke up. He was a late riser for us today.

I watch the All-Star game every year. It's a fun game and I want to see what the guys are doing. I like to see my friends who are in the game and see how well they do.

Looking at it right from the top, it looks like we should have switched spots. But I'm not going to sit and whine about it because there are a lot of teams sitting home that would love to be in our position.

Many families come out to the farm, and it's not so much picking the berries as it is kind of a treasure hunt for the kids. It's just a beautiful area here.

looked at all aspects of detention operations under a microscope.

That clearly, by far, was the best game of his career. We've seen him do this in practice, but this was the first time he's got it done consistently in a game.

I sat the bench (with the Kings) for I don't know how many games. It is just a coach's preference whether or not they are going to play players or not.

Our record is not what my concern is. It's our style of play that's my concern.

Reliance on continuing the bull market for ever and a day was an impossible pipe dream.

Supply is not keeping up right now with demand.

I say it's a reflection not just on me but the whole program. It's something the whole program should be proud of because not just one person can do it. You have to have the parents, the coaching staff, the students and the support from the community and I really think we are starting to get that.

Just because you pay 5 percent less than somebody else doesn't mean it is a good price.

Last two games, he's been playing like a first-team, all-league player.

Jerry Kilgore is beginning to realize voters aren't interested in smear ads and negative attacks.

Justice was served because I think the ref gave them a goal. It was unfortunate that it came right at the end of the game. But the guys came through. That's what they're supposed to do.

I think they really wanted to help us, ... But they're overwhelmed and understaffed.

I think they really wanted to help us. But they're overwhelmed and understaffed.

I think they use it as an advantage for them. I think it allows them to maybe be a little more aggressive than a guy who is a little bigger and can't be as aggressive. (Officials) are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.