Each of us has interests which conflict the interests of everybody else... 'everybody else' we call 'society'. It's a powerful opponent and it always wins. Oh, here and there an individual prevails for a while and gets what he wants. Sometimes he storms the culture of a society and changes it to his own advantage. But society wins in the long run, for it has the advantage of numbers and of age. B.F. Skinner
About This Quote

The concept of "everybody wins" is not valid in the world. It is only true in a world that has no other choice. When we get involved with other people’s choices, we are bound to lose, for nobody wins in such a situation. What we all need to do is live our lives to the fullest and keep ourselves happy. If we do so, there will be no one to take what we have worked so hard for.

Source: Walden Two

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More Quotes By B.F. Skinner
  1. We shouldn't teach great books we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.

  2. A scientist may not be sure of the answer, but he's often sure he can find one. And that's a condition which is clearly not enjoyed by philosophy.

  3. A fourth-grade reader may be a sixth-grade mathematician. The grade is an administrative device which does violence to the nature of the developmental process.

  4. Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten.

  5. Why did colleges make their students take examinations, and why did they give grade? What did a grade really mean? When a student "studied" did he do anything more than read and think-- or was there something special which no one in Walden Two would...

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