Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.
Lewis MumfordRead
One of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting solely to the intelligence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Intelligence should be used with caution, as relying only on it can lead to danger.
This quote by Lewis Mumford emphasizes the importance of not solely relying on intelligence without considering the potential risks and consequences that may arise from such trust. It suggests that while intelligence is a valuable asset, it must be complemented with caution, awareness, and critical thinking to navigate complex situations effectively.
Themes
IntelligenceWisdomCautionTrustRisk
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on decision-making, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of integrating wisdom with intelligence.
More from Lewis Mumford
All quotes βNeither democracy nor effective representation is possible until each participant in the group...devotes a measurable part of his life to furthering its existence.
Lewis MumfordRead
Moment to moment, it turns out, is not God's conception, or nature's. It is man conversing with himself about and through a piece of machinery he created."We effectively became "time-keepers, and then time-savers, and now time-servers" with the invention of the clock."
Lewis MumfordRead
By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes in earlier civilizations have ever fathomed.
Lewis MumfordRead
The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city.
Lewis MumfordRead
The very people who shudder over the cruelty of the hunter are apt to forget that slaughter, in the grimmest sense of the word, is a process they entrust daily to the butcher; and that unlike the game of the forests, even the dumbest creatures of the slaughterhouse know what is in store for them.
Lewis MumfordRead
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