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Lewis Mumford Quotes

1895–1990 United States

Lewis Mumford (19 October 1895 – 26 January 1990) was an American historian of technology and science, also noted for his study of cities.

United States
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Also known as: Mumford, Lewis

Random Lewis Mumford quote

64 quotes

Many psychologists have treated literature as a whole as a mere vehicle of withdrawal from the harsh realities of existence: forgetful of the fact that literature of the first order, so far from being a mere pleasure device, is a supreme attempt to face and encompass reality-an attempt beside which a busy working life involves a shrinkage and represents a partial retreat.

Technics and Civilization (1934)

As quoted in "Lewis Mumford Remembers" by Carey Winfrey in The New York Times (6 July 1977)

The machine is no longer the paragon of progress and the final expression of our desires: it is merely a series of instruments, which we will use in so far as they are serviceable to life at large, and which we will curtail where they infringe upon it or exist purely to support the adventitious structure of capitalism.

Technics and Civilization (1934)

A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind. Even a head wind is better than none. No man ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm.

Misattributed

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Lewis Mumford (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.