Temple Grandin Quotes

born 1947 United States

Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947, in Boston, Massachusetts) is a professor at Colorado State University and a professional designer of humane slaughterhouses.

United States
Academics
Activists
Authors
Biologists

Random Temple Grandin quote

21 quotes

The meaning of life is if something that you did made something better.

If by some magic, autism had been eradicated from the face of the earth, then men would still be socializing in front of a wood fire at the entrance to a cave.

(About the workplace) Tyrants who get into power make life miserable for everyone.

They may ask why nature or God created such horrible conditions as autism, manic depression, and schizophrenia. However, if the genes that caused these conditions were eliminated there might be a terrible price to pay.

I don't like radical anything; left or right. I have a radical dislike of radicals.

Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be. I wouldn't want to have my guts ripped out by a lion. I'd much rather die in a slaughterhouse, if it was done right.

Temple Grandin (2010)

Temple Grandin: Society Is Failing Visual Thinkers, and That Hurts Us All" Guest essay, New York Times (2023)

The true measure of an education isn't what grades a student gets today, but where they are 10 years later.

Temple Grandin: Society Is Failing Visual Thinkers, and That Hurts Us All" Guest essay, New York Times (2023)

Complementary skills are the key to successful teams.

Temple Grandin: Society Is Failing Visual Thinkers, and That Hurts Us All" Guest essay, New York Times (2023)

It's OK to be an eccentric; it's not OK to be a rude and dirty eccentric.

Even today, romantic love is just not part of my life. And you know what? That's okay with me.

All people want to feel their efforts matter, and individuals with ASD are no different. (p214)

The Way I See It (2008)

Animals like novelty if they can choose to investigate it; they fear novelty if you shove it in their faces. (p287)

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals (2009)

All animals and people have the same core emotion systems in the brain. (p5)

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals (2009)

You've read about action at a distance, or quantum theory. I've always had the feeling that when I go to a meat plant I must be very careful, because God's watching. Quantum theory will get me.

Bad things always happen when an animal is overselected for any single trait. Nature will give you a nasty surprise. (p217)

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals (2009)

the skill sets of visual thinkers are essential to finding real-world solutions to society’s many problems.

Temple Grandin: Society Is Failing Visual Thinkers, and That Hurts Us All" Guest essay, New York Times (2023)

There is often too much emphasis in the world of autism on the deficits of these children and not enough emphasis on developing the special talents that many of them possess. (p35)

The Way I See It (2008)

At first I thought engineering could make all the improvements happen, but later in my career I learned that good engineering and design must be coupled with good management. (p296)

Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals (2009)

Most people don't realize that the slaughter plant is much gentler than nature. Animals in the wild die from starvation, predators, or exposure. If I had a choice, I would rather go through a slaughter system than have my guts ripped out by coyotes or lions while I was still conscious. Unfortunately, most people never observe the natural cycle of birth and death. They do not realize that for one living thing to survive, another living thing must die.

Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism (1995)

Attribution

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