--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A man with a machine and inadequate…" description: "\"A man with a machine and inadequate culture is a pestilence.\" — Wendell Berry" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9c/wendell-berry-236_computers_a-man-with-a-machine-and-inadequate-cult_253180.jpg" --- # A man with a machine and inadequate culture is a pestilence. ![“A man with a machine and inadequate culture is a pestilence.” quote by Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9c/wendell-berry-236_computers_a-man-with-a-machine-and-inadequate-cult_253180.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9c/wendell-berry-236_computers_a-man-with-a-machine-and-inadequate-cult_253180.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9c/wendell-berry-236_computers_a-man-with-a-machine-and-inadequate-cult_253180.jpg) > “A man with a machine and inadequate culture is a pestilence.” [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A technologically advanced society lacking cultural depth harms both people and the environment. **In simple terms:** Technology without culture is destructive. Key Takeaway Cultivate culture alongside technology. Themes environment culture technology Mood concerned hopeful Type environmental ethical When to use this quote - urban planning - education reform - community building Key Concepts sustainability civilization Questions to Reflect On - How can we integrate culture into tech development? - What cultural practices protect ecosystems? A Different Perspective Technological progress can coexist with cultural richness if guided. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Machines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/machines/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Pestilence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pestilence/) ## Related quotes > [The more local and settled a culture, the better it stays put, the less the damage. It is the foreigner whose road of excess…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-more-local-and-settled-a-culture-the-better-it-stays-put-the-less/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [There have been poverty, pestilence, and famine, which were due to man's inadequate mastery of nature. There have been wars, oppressions and tortures which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/there-have-been-poverty-pestilence-and-famine-which-were-due-to-man-s/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [We are more like vehicles, a part of our mensch machine, our man-machine. Sometimes we play the music, sometimes the music plays us, sometimes...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florian-schneider/we-are-more-like-vehicles-a-part-of-our-mensch-machine-our-man/) [Florian Schneider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florian-schneider/) > [“The modern man has become a machine for survival, which is largely the result of work of chemicals and genetic codes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-mctaggart/the-modern-man-has-become-a-machine-for-survival-which-is-largely-the/) [Lynne McTaggart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-mctaggart/) > [Our age of mechanization leads along a road ending with man himself as a machine. Only the spirit of singing can save us from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoltan-kodaly/our-age-of-mechanization-leads-along-a-road-ending-with-man-himself/) [Zoltan Kodaly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoltan-kodaly/) > [“IV. IS MAN A MACHINE? Yes, said Julien Offroy de La Mettrie.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/iv-is-man-a-machine-yes-said-julien-offroy-de-la-mettrie/) [Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/) > [What man-made machine will ever achieve the complete perfection of even the goose's wing?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abbas-ibn-firnas/what-man-made-machine-will-ever-achieve-the-complete-perfection-of/) Abbas ibn Firnas > [“Neither Man, nor machine can replace its creator.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tapan-ghosh/neither-man-nor-machine-can-replace-its-creator/) [Tapan Ghosh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tapan-ghosh/) > [Man is not a machine that can be remodelled for quite other purposes as occasion demands, in the hope that it will go on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/man-is-not-a-machine-that-can-be-remodelled-for-quite-other-purposes/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [The real problem is what can man and machine do together and not in competition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hamming/the-real-problem-is-what-can-man-and-machine-do-together-and-not-in/) [Richard Hamming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hamming/) > [Man is a machine and in the whole universe there is but a single substance, matter, variously modified.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julien-offray-de-la-mettrie/man-is-a-machine-and-in-the-whole-universe-there-is-but-a-single/) [Julien Offray de La Mettrie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julien-offray-de-la-mettrie/) > [Man is not a machine, ... although man most certainly processes information, he does not necessarily process it in the way computers do. Computers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-weizenbaum/man-is-not-a-machine-although-man-most-certainly-processes/) [Joseph Weizenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-weizenbaum/) > [In man-machine symbiosis, it is man who must adjust: The machines can't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/in-man-machine-symbiosis-it-is-man-who-must-adjust-the-machines-can-t/) [Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/) > [For most purposes, a man with a machine is better than a man without a machine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ford/for-most-purposes-a-man-with-a-machine-is-better-than-a-man-without-a/) [Henry Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ford/) > [“Down the road in the rain and snow The man and his machine would go Oh the secrets that old car would know Sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-cohn/down-the-road-in-the-rain-and-snow-the-man-and-his-machine-would-go/) [marc cohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-cohn/) ## More by Wendell Berry > [During the last 17 years... I have been working at the restoration of a once exhausted hillside. Its scars are now healed over, though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/during-the-last-17-years-i-have-been-working-at-the-restoration-of-a/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Like the water of a deep stream, love is always too much. We did not make it. Though we drink till we burst, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/like-the-water-of-a-deep-stream-love-is-always-too-much-we-did-not/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [To husband is to use with care, to keep, to save, to make last, to conserve. 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Time does not stop for love, but it does not stop for death and grief, either.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-mercy-of-the-world-is-time-time-does-not-stop-for-love-but-it/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-soil-is-the-great-connector-of-our-lives-the-source-and/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [I dislike the thought that some animal has been made miserable to feed me. If I am going to eat meat, I want it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-dislike-the-thought-that-some-animal-has-been-made-miserable-to/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/laughter-is-immeasurable-be-joyful/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [These are people who are capable of devotion, public devotion, to justice. They meant what they said and every day that passes, they mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/these-are-people-who-are-capable-of-devotion-public-devotion-to/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) [Explore all 847 Wendell Berry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) ## More Computers quotes > [I don't understand why we're all connected wirelessly via a little machine that goes in our pocket, to everybody in the world, and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-m-chu/i-don-t-understand-why-we-re-all-connected-wirelessly-via-a-little/) [Jon M. Chu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-m-chu/) > [“Probably it goes without saying, but time machine guys don't get a lot of action. 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They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-sheridan/note-found-in-the-patron-suggestion-box-you-have-signs-up-near-the/) [Gina Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-sheridan/) > [“You weren't born to be a cog in the giant industrial machine. You were trained to become a cog. There's an alternative available to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/you-weren-t-born-to-be-a-cog-in-the-giant-industrial-machine-you-were/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [If you stood me in a costume next to a computer graphic of the same-looking character, I think there would be a difference. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warwick-davis/if-you-stood-me-in-a-costume-next-to-a-computer-graphic-of-the-same/) [Warwick Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warwick-davis/) > [The corporate state is an immensely powerful machine, ordered, legalistic, rational, yet utterly out of human control, wholly and perfectly indifferent to any human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-reich/the-corporate-state-is-an-immensely-powerful-machine-ordered/) [Charles A. 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