--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Television was not invented to make human…" description: "\"Television was not invented to make human beings vacuous, but is an emanation of their vacuity.\" — Malcolm Muggeridge" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4e/malcolm-muggeridge-2370_television_television-was-not-invented-to-make-huma_3145018.png" --- # Television was not invented to make human beings vacuous… ![“Television was not invented to make human beings vacuous, but is an emanation of their vacuity.” quote by Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4e/malcolm-muggeridge-2370_television_television-was-not-invented-to-make-huma_3145018.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4e/malcolm-muggeridge-2370_television_television-was-not-invented-to-make-huma_3145018.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4e/malcolm-muggeridge-2370_television_television-was-not-invented-to-make-huma_3145018.png) > “Television was not invented to make human beings vacuous, but is an emanation of their vacuity.” [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Television reflects and amplifies society’s emptiness rather than creates it. **In simple terms:** TV shows what’s already empty inside people. Key Takeaway Recognize media’s role in mirroring our own voids. Themes media culture reflection Mood critical contemplative Type observational critical When to use this quote - personal introspection - media critique - education - mindful viewing Key Concepts vacuum self‑reflection mass communication Questions to Reflect On - How does your media consumption reflect your inner state? - Can you use TV to fill rather than empty? A Different Perspective It can also inspire creativity, not just emptiness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beings Vacuous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beings-vacuous-3206316/) [Emanation Vacuity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emanation-vacuity-3206317/) [Television](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/television/) [Television Invented](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/television-invented-3008318/) [Vacuity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vacuity/) [Vacuous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vacuous/) ## Related quotes > [Television was not intended to make human beings vacuous, but it is an emanation of their vacuity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/television-was-not-intended-to-make-human-beings-vacuous-but-it-is-an/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be invented so he could hate that too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/my-father-hated-radio-and-could-not-wait-for-television-to-be/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [ “Now, 75 years \[after To Kill a Mockingbird \], in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harper-lee/now-75-years-after-to-kill-a-mockingbird-in-an-abundant-society-where/) [Harper Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harper-lee/) > [Poverty is a bitter thing; but it is not as bitter as the existence of restless vacuity and physical, moral, and intellectual flabbiness, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/poverty-is-a-bitter-thing-but-it-is-not-as-bitter-as-the-existence-of/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [“Science gives up to religion that which cannot be known, and as it does not know what it is, that cannot be known, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chapman-cohen/science-gives-up-to-religion-that-which-cannot-be-known-and-as-it/) [Chapman Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chapman-cohen/) > [A pipe for the hour of work; a cigarette for the hour of conception; a cigar for the hour of vacuity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-gissing/a-pipe-for-the-hour-of-work-a-cigarette-for-the-hour-of-conception-a/) [George Gissing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-gissing/) > [Ignorance is mere privation by which nothing can be produced: it is a vacuity in which the soul sits motionless and torpid for want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/ignorance-is-mere-privation-by-which-nothing-can-be-produced-it-is-a/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [But the universe, as a collection of finite things, presents itself as a kind of island situated in a pure vacuity to which time,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-iqbal/but-the-universe-as-a-collection-of-finite-things-presents-itself-as/) [Muhammad Iqbal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-iqbal/) > [Very little appears to escape the infantilizing and moral vacuity of the market.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/very-little-appears-to-escape-the-infantilizing-and-moral-vacuity-of/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [The only free mind is one that, pure of all intimacy with beings or objects, plies its own vacuity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/the-only-free-mind-is-one-that-pure-of-all-intimacy-with-beings-or/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [For far too long economists have sought to define themselves in terms of their supposedly scientific methods. In fact, those methods rely on an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-piketty/for-far-too-long-economists-have-sought-to-define-themselves-in-terms/) [Thomas Piketty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-piketty/) > [Your friends will notice at once that glib vacuities fail to impress, and hate you, and tell lies about you. It's worth it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleister-crowley/your-friends-will-notice-at-once-that-glib-vacuities-fail-to-impress/) [Aleister Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleister-crowley/) > [Fashionable women regard themselves, and are regarded by men, as pretty toys or as mere instruments of pleasure; and the vacuity of mind, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-moore-grimke/fashionable-women-regard-themselves-and-are-regarded-by-men-as-pretty/) [Sarah Moore Grimke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-moore-grimke/) > [A lot of times you see really good-looking guys on TV and you sort of assume that maybe there's some sort of vacuity behind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/misha-collins/a-lot-of-times-you-see-really-good-looking-guys-on-tv-and-you-sort-of/) [Misha Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/misha-collins/) > [Much that we hug today as knowledge is ignorance pure and simple. It makes the mind wander and even reduces it to a vacuity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/much-that-we-hug-today-as-knowledge-is-ignorance-pure-and-simple-it/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) ## More by Malcolm Muggeridge > [It is only possible to succeed at second-rate pursuitslikebecoming a millionaire or a prime minister, winning a war, seducing beautiful women, flying thought the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/it-is-only-possible-to-succeed-at-second-rate-pursuitslikebecoming-a/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [He was not only a bore; he bored for England.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/he-was-not-only-a-bore-he-bored-for-england/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [The orgasm has replaced the Cross as the focus of longing and the image of fulfillment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/the-orgasm-has-replaced-the-cross-as-the-focus-of-longing-and-the/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [Posterity will surely be amazed, and I hope vastly amused, that such slipshod and unconvincing theorizing should have so easily captivated twentieth-century minds and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/posterity-will-surely-be-amazed-and-i-hope-vastly-amused-that-such/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [In politics, as in womanizing, failure is decisive. It sheds its retrospective gloom on earlier endeavor which at the time seemed full of promise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/in-politics-as-in-womanizing-failure-is-decisive-it-sheds-its/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [Marx and Freud are the two great destroyers of Christian civilization, the first replacing the gospel of love by the gospel of hate, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/marx-and-freud-are-the-two-great-destroyers-of-christian-civilization/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [I wouldn't have said that Anthony Eden was equipped by nature to deal with the situation in the world today. I would have said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/i-wouldn-t-have-said-that-anthony-eden-was-equipped-by-nature-to-deal/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [God, stay with me, let no word cross my lips that is not your word, no thoughts enter my mind that are not your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/god-stay-with-me-let-no-word-cross-my-lips-that-is-not-your-word-no/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [The monarchical institution in England is immensely valuable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/the-monarchical-institution-in-england-is-immensely-valuable/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [Education, the great mumbo jumbo and fraud of the age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/education-the-great-mumbo-jumbo-and-fraud-of-the-age/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [This life in us; however low it flickers or fiercely burns, is still a divine flame which no man dare presume to put out,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/this-life-in-us-however-low-it-flickers-or-fiercely-burns-is-still-a/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [As Man alone, Jesus could not have saved us; As God alone, He would not; Made flesh, He could and did.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/as-man-alone-jesus-could-not-have-saved-us-as-god-alone-he-would-not/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [ I think it \[presidency of Dwight Eisenhower\] came too late and I think that he is not on the wavelength of this dreadful time… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/i-think-it-presidency-of-dwight-eisenhower-came-too-late-and-i-think/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [Future historians will surely see us as having created in the media a Frankenstein monster whom no one knows how to control ordirect, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/future-historians-will-surely-see-us-as-having-created-in-the-media-a/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [ I think that President \[Dwight\] Eisenhower was... did the most marvelous job in the war, not really a military job: a public relations job,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/i-think-that-president-dwight-eisenhower-was-did-the-most-marvelous/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) [Explore all 168 Malcolm Muggeridge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) ## More Television quotes > [I could program a 'fabulous, I love it' kind of hit season right now. I'm more interested in breaking boundaries, telling a story, defying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-c-wolfe/i-could-program-a-fabulous-i-love-it-kind-of-hit-season-right-now-i-m/) [George C. Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-c-wolfe/) > [Because after you've crossed some lines, you just keep crossing them. And there's no escaping from constant escape. Distracting ourselves. Avoiding confrontation. Getting past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/because-after-you-ve-crossed-some-lines-you-just-keep-crossing-them/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [Some television programs are so much chewing gum for the eyes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mason-brown/some-television-programs-are-so-much-chewing-gum-for-the-eyes/) [John Mason Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mason-brown/) > [Some shows just go away - and that's fine. They serve their purpose and their entertainment value, but there are shows that touch people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-cudlitz/some-shows-just-go-away-and-that-s-fine-they-serve-their-purpose-and/) [Michael Cudlitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-cudlitz/) > [I'm very proud of some of the stories I've been given thanks to the team at 'Emmerdale,' they've been great over the years so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelvin-fletcher/i-m-very-proud-of-some-of-the-stories-i-ve-been-given-thanks-to-the/) [Kelvin Fletcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelvin-fletcher/) > [When you're on a daytime drama you get one page, you better damn well know your character. You better know what she would do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hudgins/when-you-re-on-a-daytime-drama-you-get-one-page-you-better-damn-well/) [David Hudgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hudgins/) > [So many times in television, you get cancelled arbitrarily as a result of your ratings in the off season, and you don't have an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noah-wyle/so-many-times-in-television-you-get-cancelled-arbitrarily-as-a-result/) [Noah Wyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noah-wyle/) > [To an ever greater extent out experience is governed by pictures, pictures in newspapers and magazines, on television and in the cinema. Next to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-crimp/to-an-ever-greater-extent-out-experience-is-governed-by-pictures/) [Douglas Crimp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-crimp/) > [Television, radio, social media. The 24/7 news cycle plows forward mercilessly on our desks, in our cars and in our pockets. Thousands and thousands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-prince/television-radio-social-media-the-24-7-news-cycle-plows-forward/) [Joseph Prince](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-prince/) > [It is extremely difficult to do anything constructive, let alone deep, on daily commercial television, especially on a talk show.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-prager/it-is-extremely-difficult-to-do-anything-constructive-let-alone-deep/) [Dennis Prager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-prager/) > [My first match was on television with no buffer, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I feel like I've learned faster than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandi-rhodes/my-first-match-was-on-television-with-no-buffer-but-i-wouldn-t-have/) [Brandi Rhodes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandi-rhodes/) > [The happy medium is television. And if you find a good suitor, you can do it for years. With movies, you roll the dice.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-campbell/the-happy-medium-is-television-and-if-you-find-a-good-suitor-you-can/) [Bruce Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-campbell/) > [Television's perfect. 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