20 Quotes & Sayings By Alvin Toffler

Alvin Toffler was born in New York City in the year 1917. He earned his B.A. in Economics from Columbia University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1939. Toffler's major interests are in the social sciences, particularly in the fields of politics, economics, and systems analysis Read more

His work has been recognized with awards from organizations such as the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the American Society for Public Administration, and others. He is a member of several professional associations and is active within a variety of international organizations.

1
The secret message communicated to most young people today by the society around them is that they are not needed, that the society will run itself quite nicely until they - at some distant point in the future - will take over the reigns. Yet the fact is that the society is not running itself nicely.. because the rest of us need all the energy, brains, imagination and talent that young people can bring to bear down on our difficulties. For society to attempt to solve its desperate problems without the full participation of even very young people is imbecile. . Alvin Toffler
2
Science fiction is held in low regard as a branch of literature, and perhaps it deserves this critical contempt. But if we view it as a kind of sociology of the future, rather than as literature, science fiction has immense value as a mind-stretching force for the creation of the habit of anticipation. Our children should be studying Arthur C. Clarke, William Tenn, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury and Robert Sheckley, not because these writers can tell them about rocket ships and time machines but, more important, because they can lead young minds through an imaginative exploration of the jungle of political, social, psychological, and ethical issues that will confront these children as adults. . Alvin Toffler
3
You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction. Alvin Toffler
4
Parenthood remains the greatest single preserve of the amateur. Alvin Toffler
5
You've got to think about "big things" while you're doing small things so that all the small things go in the right direction. Alvin Toffler
6
To think that the new economy is over is like somebody in London in 1830 saying the entire industrial revolution is over because some textile manufacturers in Manchester went broke. Alvin Toffler
7
The next major explosion is going to be when genetics and computers come together. I'm talking about an organic computer - about biological substances that can function like a semiconductor. Alvin Toffler
8
You can use all the quantitative data you can get, but you still have to distrust it and use your own intelligence and judgment. Alvin Toffler
9
We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots religion, nation, community, family, or profession are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust. Alvin Toffler
10
Knowledge is the most democratic source of power. Alvin Toffler
11
Our technological powers increase, but the side effects and potential hazards also escalate. Alvin Toffler
12
Technology feeds on itself. Technology makes more technology possible. Alvin Toffler
13
The great growling engine of change - technology. Alvin Toffler
14
The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn. Alvin Toffler
15
Change is not merely necessary to life - it is life. Alvin Toffler
16
Nobody knows the future with certainty. We can, however, identify ongoing patterns of change. Alvin Toffler
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Future shock is the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time. Alvin Toffler
18
Man has a limited biological capacity for change. When this capacity is overwhelmed, the capacity is in future shock. Alvin Toffler
19
One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell real from unreal. Soon we'll need a new definition. Alvin Toffler