--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For most Americans, progress means…" description: "\"For most Americans, progress means accepting what is new because it is new, and discarding what is old because it is old.\" — Lewis Mumford" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/lewis-mumford-2870_accepting_for-most-americans-progress-means-accept_2551448.png" --- # For most Americans, progress means accepting what is new… ![“For most Americans, progress means accepting what is new because it is new, and discarding what is old because it is old.” quote by Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/lewis-mumford-2870_accepting_for-most-americans-progress-means-accept_2551448.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/lewis-mumford-2870_accepting_for-most-americans-progress-means-accept_2551448.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/lewis-mumford-2870_accepting_for-most-americans-progress-means-accept_2551448.png) > “For most Americans, progress means accepting what is new because it is new, and discarding what is old because it is old.” [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Progress often means embracing novelty and discarding the old simply because it is new. **In simple terms:** New things are accepted, old ones rejected. Key Takeaway Question the value of novelty alone. Themes culture change tradition Mood reflective critical Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - technology adoption - urban planning - fashion trends - educational curricula Key Concepts modernism nostalgia innovation Questions to Reflect On - What old practices still serve us? - When is new better than old? A Different Perspective Not all old things are bad; some have lasting value. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accepting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accepting/) [Accepting what is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accepting-what-is/) [Americans Progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/americans-progress-1524481/) [Growth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/growth/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Means Accepting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/means-accepting-1012376/) [New Discarding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-discarding-1524482/) [Progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progress/) [Progress Means](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progress-means-706107/) ## Related quotes > [Forgiveness means accepting what is or what has been and becoming willing to see it differently. 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Peace comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kornfield/we-can-struggle-with-what-is-we-can-judge-and-blame-others-or/) [Jack Kornfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kornfield/) > [It's a very important process of self-recognition, self-introspection, by just daily accepting our creation, accepting what is right in front of us, breathing, letting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-mccormick-day/it-s-a-very-important-process-of-self-recognition-self-introspection/) [Christine McCormick Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-mccormick-day/) > [The fatal metaphor of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the real idea of growth, which means leaving things inside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-fatal-metaphor-of-progress-which-means-leaving-things-behind-us/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Don't beat yourself up too much. You are a work in progress; which means you get there a little at a time, not all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/don-t-beat-yourself-up-too-much-you-are-a-work-in-progress-which/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) ## More by Lewis Mumford > [Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/restore-human-legs-as-a-means-of-travel-pedestrians-rely-on-food-for/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Mechanical instruments, potentially a vehicle of rational human purposes, are scarcely a blessing when they enable the gossip of the village idiot and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/mechanical-instruments-potentially-a-vehicle-of-rational-human/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [However far modern science and techniques have fallen short of their inherent possibilities, they have taught mankind at least one lesson; nothing is impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/however-far-modern-science-and-techniques-have-fallen-short-of-their/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Iron and coal dominated everywhere, from grey to black: the black boots, the black stove-pipe hat, the black coach or carriage, the black iron…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/iron-and-coal-dominated-everywhere-from-grey-to-black-the-black-boots/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [The self holds both a hell and a heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/the-self-holds-both-a-hell-and-a-heaven/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes in earlier civilizations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/by-his-very-success-in-inventing-labor-saving-devices-modern-man-has/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Each person is a temporary focus of forces, vitalities, and values that carry back to an immemorial past and that reach forward into an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/each-person-is-a-temporary-focus-of-forces-vitalities-and-values-that/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Adventure is humdrum and routine unless one assimilates it, unless one relates it to a central core which grows within and gives it contour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/adventure-is-humdrum-and-routine-unless-one-assimilates-it-unless-one/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Safety razors make it hard to grow beards in America: America would be a better place if there were a few bearded, savage, terrible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/safety-razors-make-it-hard-to-grow-beards-in-america-america-would-be/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [A society that gives to one class all the opportunities for leisure, and to another all the burdens of work, dooms both classes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/a-society-that-gives-to-one-class-all-the-opportunities-for-leisure/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Without leisure there can be neither art nor science nor fine conversation, nor any ceremonious performance of the offices of love and friendship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/without-leisure-there-can-be-neither-art-nor-science-nor-fine/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Not sense data or atoms or electrons or packets of energy, but purposes, interests, and meanings, constitute the underlying facts of human experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/not-sense-data-or-atoms-or-electrons-or-packets-of-energy-but/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [When cities were first founded, an old Egyptian scribe tells us, the mission of the founder was to 'put gods in their shrines.' The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/when-cities-were-first-founded-an-old-egyptian-scribe-tells-us-the/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [“Forget the damned motor car and built cities for lovers and friends .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/forget-the-damned-motor-car-and-built-cities-for-lovers-and-friends/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/western-society-has-accepted-as-unquestionable-a-technological/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) [Explore all 146 Lewis Mumford quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) ## More Accepting quotes > [From Augustine down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the Scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matilda-joslyn-gage/from-augustine-down-theologians-have-tried-to-compel-people-to-accept/) [Matilda Joslyn Gage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matilda-joslyn-gage/) > [Laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing! 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