Book Quote by Jonathon Keats
![“I think that in the first place, why we can get excited about [Buckminster ] Fuller, why it's plausible that people might - why my publisher would publish this book [You belong to the universe] about it long after he's dead and irrelevant by many standards has to do with the fact that he was in a…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/452/jonathon-keats-10822_book_i-think-that-in-the-first-place-why-we-c_1362542.jpg)
“I think that in the first place, why we can get excited about [Buckminster ] Fuller, why it's plausible that people might - why my publisher would publish this book [You belong to the universe] about it long after he's dead and irrelevant by many standards has to do with the fact that he was in a sense coming up with this job for himself that is the job that we now refer to when we speak about world change.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: The Universe Within, 2012
Fuller’s work feels personal because he framed world change as his own job, making it relatable and timeless.
In simple terms: World change feels personal when framed as a job.
Key Takeaway
Find personal relevance in big ideas.
Themes
innovation
legacy
purpose
Mood
thoughtful
inspired
Type
philosophical
motivational
When to use this quote
- entrepreneurship
- environmental activism
- education reform
- art projects
Key Concepts
systems thinking
human agency
Questions to Reflect On
- How does seeing change as a job affect your motivation?
- What personal “job” can you adopt for societal impact?
A Different Perspective
Personal relevance may not translate to collective action.
![“I would certainly never want to inflict anything on the world exactly as [Buckminster Fuller] envisioned it because there is a technocratic worldview that I find horrific.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d11/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_i-would-certainly-never-want-to-inflict_340658.jpg)
![“Architects in urban planning are talking about this but they're not talking about it yet I don't think at that level that [Buckminster] Fuller is talking about when he talked about putting a dome over Manhattan, which is to say an attempt at integrating all of these different technologies in a way…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/560/jonathon-keats-10822_architect_architects-in-urban-planning-are-talking_285452.jpg)
![“There were other auto manufacturers that were confabulating as much as [Buckminster Fuller] was, making claims about how cars resembled this or that aspect of nature.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d9d/jonathon-keats-10822_aspect_there-were-other-auto-manufacturers-that_440815.jpg)
![“[Buckminster] Fuller was an independent operator coming up with these madcap ways of combining things with absolutely no strings attached and the fact that world changing now is happening within the corporation by and large, and that disruption is ironically what corporations do.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ee0/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_buckminster-fuller-was-an-independent-op_35124.jpg)
![“We clearly recognize the need for something that is what [Buckminster Fuller] represents and therefore it becomes really useful and really interesting to look at the ways in which world changing today totally misses everything that was valuable.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/92f/jonathon-keats-10822_buckminster-fuller_we-clearly-recognize-the-need-for-someth_100464.jpg)
![“[Buckminster] Fuller said that everything at the time was basically a horse and buggy in the form of an automobile and it had that boxiness and basically aeronautics hadn't been invented.” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5bb/jonathon-keats-10822_automobile_buckminster-fuller-said-that-everything_134972.jpg)
![“On the other hand, the way in which that car fit into this whole very roundabout way of attempting to solve the problem of what - the problem that [Buckminster Fuller] perceived as being the cause of his daughter's death and meningitis. I mean how you get from your daughter dying from meningitis…” quote by Jonathon Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3d8/jonathon-keats-10822_attempting_on-the-other-hand-the-way-in-which-that_562873.jpg)
