Science, not religion, has taught me my most useful values, among them intellectual honesty. It is better to go without answers than to accept those that merely resolve puzzlement. B. F. Skinner More Quotes by B. F. Skinner More Quotes From B. F. Skinner Many instructional arrangements seem "contrived," but there is nothing wrong with that. It is the teacher's function to contrive conditions under which students learn. It has always been the task of formal education to set up behavior which would prove useful or enjoyable later in a student's life. B. F. Skinner tasks teaching teacher We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. B. F. Skinner education inspiring book Better contraceptives will control population only if people will use them. A nuclear holocaust can be prevented only if the conditions under which nations make war can be changed. The environment will continue to deteriorate until pollution practices are abandoned. We need to make vast changes in human behavior. B. F. Skinner philosophy war art Indeed one of the ultimate advantages of an education is simply coming to the end of it. B. F. Skinner advantage ends education In the world at large we seldom vote for a principle or a given state of affairs. We vote for a man who pretends to believe in that principle or promises to achieve that state. We don't want a man, we want a condition of peace and plenty-- or, it may be, war and want-- but we must vote for a man. B. F. Skinner men war believe It is a mistake to suppose that the whole issue is how to free man. The issue is to improve the way in which he is controlled. B. F. Skinner issues mistake men To say that a man is sinful because he sins is to give an operational definition of sin. To say that he sins because he is sinful is to trace his behavior to a supposed inner trait. But whether or not a person engages in the kind of behavior called sinful depends upon circumstances which are not mentioned in either question. The sin assigned as an inner possession (the sin a person "knows") is to be found in a history of reinforcement. B. F. Skinner definitions giving men I will be dead in a few months. But it hasn't given me the slightest anxiety or worry. I always knew I was going to die. B. F. Skinner anxiety dying worry It has always been the task of formal education to set up behavior which would prove useful or enjoyable later in a student's life. B. F. Skinner tasks behavior students Men build society and society builds men. B. F. Skinner men Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about. B. F. Skinner chaos genius men ...not everyone is willing to defend a position of 'not knowing.' There is no virtue in ignorance for its own sake. B. F. Skinner ignorance knowing sake The majority of people don't want to plan. They want to be free of the responsibility of planning. What they ask for is merely some assurance that they will be decently provided for. The rest is a day-to-day enjoyment of life. That's the explanation for your Father Divines; people naturally flock to anyone they can trust for the necessities of life... They are the backbone of a community--solid, trust-worthy, essential. B. F. Skinner responsibility father people The one fact that I would cry form every housetop is this: the Good Life is waiting for us - here and now. B. F. Skinner good-life waiting facts A disappointment is not generally an oversight. It might just be the best one can do the situation being what it is. The genuine error is to quit attempting. B. F. Skinner errors disappointment might Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value. B. F. Skinner people ideas thinking The severest trial of oppression is the constant outrage which one suffers at the thought of the oppressor. What Jesus discovered was how to avoid the inner devastations. His technique was to practice the opposite emotion... a man may not get his freedom or possessions back, but he's less miserable. It's a difficult lesson. B. F. Skinner opposites men jesus 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. B. F. Skinner citizens loyalty may A piece of music is an experience to be taken by itself. B. F. Skinner pieces music-is taken Old age is rather like another country. You will enjoy it more if you have prepared yourself before you go. B. F. Skinner enjoy age country
