“The fact that order and creativity are complementary has been basic to man's cultural development; for he has to internalize order to be able to give external form to his creativity.” MenGivingHas BeensFactsAbleFormOrderCreativityDevelopmentComplementary Book:The Myth of the Machine: Technics and human development Source: The Myth of the Machine: Technics and human development
“If there are favourable habitats and favorable forms of association for animalsand plants, as ecology demonstrates, why not for men? If each particular natural environment has has its own balance; is there not perhaps an equivalent of this in culture?” IfsMenFormCultureNaturalEnvironmentParticularBalancePlantWhy NotAssociationEcologyNatural EnvironmentHabitat Author:Lewis Mumford
“In the name of economy a thousand wasteful devices would be invented; and in the name of efficiency new forms of mechanical time-wasting would be devised: both processes gained speed through the nineteenth century and have come close to the limit of extravagant futility in our own time. But labor-saving devices could only achieve their end-that of freeing mankind for higher functions-if the standard of living remained stable. The dogma of increasing wants nullified every real economy and set the community in a collective squirrel-cage.” IfsWantRealEndsWould BeFormNamesProcessCommunityEconomyAchieveMankindCenturyHigherThousandLimitsStandardsLaborFunctionSpeedSavingCollectivesDevicesWasting TimeStableDogmaEfficiencyConsumerismCagesNineteenth CenturyFutilityOverconsumptionExtravagantStandards Of LivingSquirrels Author:Lewis Mumford
“Faith in the creative process, in the dynamics of emergence, in the values and purposes that transcend past achievements and past forms, is the precondition of all further growth.” PastFormPurposeValuesProcessGrowthCreativeAchievementCreative ProcessEmergenceDynamics Author:Lewis Mumford
“As for the various kinds of montage photography, they are in reality not photography at all but a kind of painting in which photography is used - as pastiches of textiles are used in crazy-quilts - to form a mosaic. Whatever value the montage may have derives from painting rather than the camera.” KindMayRealityFormUsedValuesCrazyPaintingPhotographyCamerasVariousMosaicsQuiltsTextilesPastiche Author:Lewis Mumford
“The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity.” ArtMatterFormCultureEnergySocialCitiesCreativityFunctionSymbolsChiefsReproductionCity LifeCities At Night Author:Lewis Mumford
“Misery, mutilation, destruction, terror, starvation and death characterize the process of war and form a principal part of the product.” WarFormPeaceProcessProductsDestructionMiseryTerrorAnti WarAntiwarPrincipalStarvationMutilation Book:Technics and Civilization Source: Technics and Civilization
“Every transformation of humanity has rested upon deep stirrings and intuitions, whose rationalized expression takes the form of a new picture of the cosmos and the nature of the human.” HumansFormHumanityExpressionTransformationIntuitionCosmosFlexibilityStewardshipStirring Author:Lewis Mumford
“The city is a fact in nature, like a cave, a run of mackerel or an ant-heap. But it is also a conscious work of art, and it holds within its communal framework many simpler and more personal forms of art. Mind takes form in the city; and in turn, urban forms condition mind.” MindArtFactsRunningFormTurnsNatureCitiesConditionsConsciousWorks Of ArtUrbanCavesFrameworkAntsCity LifeMackerel Author:Lewis Mumford
“Everyone aimed at security: no one accepted responsibility. What was plainly lacking, long before the barbarian invasions had done their work, long before economic dislocations became serious, was inner go. Rome’s life was now an imitation of life: a mere holding on. Security was the watchword – as if life knew any other stability than through constant change, or any form of security except through a constant willingness to take risks” IfsLongDoneFormResponsibilityRiskEconomicSecuritySeriousConstantMereAcceptedWillingnessStabilityRomeImitationLackingHolding OnInvasionBarbariansDislocationImitation Of Life Author:Lewis Mumford
“Unable to create a meaningful life for itself, the personality takes its own revenge: from the lower depths comes a regressive form of spontaneity: raw animality forms a counterpoise to the meaningless stimuli and the vicarious life to which the ordinary man is conditioned. Getting spiritual nourishment from this chaos of events, sensations, and devious interpretations is the equivalent of trying to pick through a garbage pile for food.” MenTryingSpiritualFormEventsPersonalityOrdinaryPicksDepthChaosRevengeMeaningfulInterpretationSensationsMeaninglessGarbageStimulusSpontaneityMeaningful LifeNourishmentOrdinary ManDeviousVicariousSpiritual Nourishment Author:Lewis Mumford
