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The significance of a basic medium to its civilization is difficult to appraise since the means of appraisal are influenced by the media, and indeed the fact of appraisal appears to be peculiar to certain types of media. A change in the type of medium implies a change in the type of appraisal and hence makes it difficult for one civilization to understand another.

— Harold Innis Empire and Communications (1950)

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More quotes by Harold Innis

The discovery of printing in the middle of the fifteenth century implied the beginning of a return to a type of civilization dominated by the eye rather than the ear.

The Bias of Communication (1951)

The present Dominion emerged not in spite of geography but because of it.

The Fur Trade in Canada (1930)

Industrialism implies technology and the cutting of time into precise fragments suited to the needs of the engineer and the accountant.

The Bias of Communication (1951)

The Middle Ages burned its heretics and the modern age threatens them with atom bombs.

The Bias of Communication (1951)

The mixture of the oral and the written traditions in the writings of Plato enabled him to dominate the history of the West.

The Bias of Communication (1951)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Harold Innis (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.