B. F. Skinner

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

— B. F. Skinner

An important fact about verbal behavior is that speaker and listener may reside within the same skin.

— B. F. Skinner

The evolution of cultures appears to follow the pattern of the evolution of species. The many different forms of culture which arise…

— B. F. Skinner

Problem-solving typically involves the construction of discriminative stimuli

— B. F. Skinner

We admire people to the extent that we cannot explain what they do, and the word 'admire' then means 'marvel at.'

— B. F. Skinner

A permissive government is a government that leaves control to other sources.

— B. F. Skinner

Properly used, positive reinforcement is extremely powerful.

— B. F. Skinner

Great scientific contributions have been techniques.

— B. F. Skinner

Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless.

— B. F. Skinner

I'm very pessimistic.

— B. F. Skinner

Must we wait for selection to solve the problems of overpopulation, exhaustion of resources, pollution of the environment and a nuclear holocaust,…

— B. F. Skinner

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

— B. F. Skinner

The environment shapes people's actions.

— B. F. Skinner

I've had only one idea in my life - a true idee fixe. To put it as bluntly as possible - the…

— B. F. Skinner

No theory changes what it is a theory about. Nothing is changed because we look at it, talk about it, or analyze…

— B. F. Skinner

Except when physically restrained, a person is least free or dignified when he is under threat of punishment, and unfortunately most people…

— B. F. Skinner

The extent to which human aggression exemplifies innate tendencies is not clear.

— B. F. Skinner

Twenty-five hundred years ago it might have been said that man understood himself as well as any other part of the world.…

— B. F. Skinner

I think my novel, 'Walden Two,' has made people stop and look at the culture they have inherited and wonder if it…

— B. F. Skinner

Let men be happy, informed, skillful, well behaved, and productive.

— B. F. Skinner

A culture must be reasonably stable, but it must also change, and it will presumably be strongest if it can avoid excessive…

— B. F. Skinner

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…

— B. F. Skinner

Somehow people get the idea I think we should be given gumdrops whenever we do anything of value.

— B. F. Skinner

I don't believe in God, so I'm not afraid of dying.

— B. F. Skinner

Behavior is determined by its consequences.

— B. F. Skinner