1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Buckminster Fuller

Buckminster Fuller Quotes
page 4

Richard Buckminster Fuller was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist.

Fuller published more than 30 books, coining or popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", "Dymaxion" , ephemeralization, synergetic, and "tensegrity". He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, and popularized the widely known geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their structural and mathematical resemblance to geodesic spheres.

Fuller was the second World President of Mensa from 1974 to 1983.



Wikipedia  

✵ 12. July 1895 – 1. July 1983
Buckminster Fuller photo
Buckminster Fuller: 171   quotes 28   likes

Buckminster Fuller Quotes

“Society assumes that specialization is natural, inevitable, and desirable. Yet in observing a little child, we find it is interested in everything and spontaenously apprehends, comprehends, and co-ordinates an ever-expanding inventory of experiences. … Nothing seems to be more prominent about human life than its wanting to understand all and put everything together.”

Buckminster Fuller

1960s, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1963)

Life , Understanding , Nature

“We have not been seeing our Spaceship Earth as an integrally-designed machine which to be persistently successful must be comprehended and serviced in total.”

Buckminster Fuller

1960s, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1963)

Success

“There is so much stupid information, misinformation around. You can’t really get anywhere until you get out from under all that.”

Buckminster Fuller

From 1980s onwards, Buckminster Fuller Talks Politics (1982)

Stupidity

“The politicians still say that it’s you or me, and that’s why they go for the gun.”

Buckminster Fuller

From 1980s onwards, Buckminster Fuller Talks Politics (1982)

“Up to now, the world of politics doesn’t know that. That’s why all nations are dependent on armaments, why we have the arms race.”

Buckminster Fuller

From 1980s onwards, Buckminster Fuller Talks Politics (1982)

World , Dependency

“But we can do so much now, with so little, that we can take care of everybody. That’s why the idea of scarcity is all wrong.”

Buckminster Fuller

Source: From 1980s onwards, Buckminster Fuller Talks Politics (1982)

Idea

“Those whom God hath joined together let no one put asunder.”

Buckminster Fuller book Critical Path

To Anne Hewlett Fuller on this, our 63rd Wedding Anniversary and my 85 Birthday—July 12, 1980
From 1980s onwards, Critical Path (1981)

God

“Nature is entirely synergetic and because your problems of representing a society ignorant of such fundamentals are greatly increased you need to pay great attention to learning how to comprehend synergy and thereafter how to educate all of humanity in the shortest time how to comprehend and usefully cope with omni-synergetic universe”

Buckminster Fuller

1960s, Presentation to U.S. Congressional Sub-Committee on World Game (1969)

Learning , Universe , Education , Time

“I have to ask... are you familiar with the word “synergy?””

Buckminster Fuller

1960s, Presentation to U.S. Congressional Sub-Committee on World Game (1969)

“I find all of our world society is operating exclusively in parts. We know this because the word synergy is unknown popularly and it is the only word that means “behavior of wholes unpredicted by behavior of their parts.””

Buckminster Fuller

This proves that society does not even think that it has a need for such a word. This discloses that society does not think that there are behaviors of wholes unpredicted by the parts. It thinks statistics and probability are all that we need but if “probability” and “statistics” were of any power at all we could not have a stock market or gambling for we would know exactly how things are coming out and no one would bet against the probability.
1960s, Presentation to U.S. Congressional Sub-Committee on World Game (1969)

World , Behavior , Parting

“It is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a 'higher standard of living than any have ever known.' It no longer has to be you or me. Selfishness is unnecessary and henceforth unrationalizable as mandated by survival... It is a matter of converting the high technology from weaponry to livingry.”

Buckminster Fuller book Critical Path

Source: From 1980s onwards, Critical Path (1981)

Selfishness

“Nature never "fails."”

Buckminster Fuller

Nature complies with its own laws. Nature is the law. When Man lacks understanding of Nature's laws and a Man-contrived structure buckles unexpectedly, it does not fail. It only demonstrates that Man did not understand Nature's laws and behaviors. Nothing failed. Man's knowledge or estimating was inadequate.
In "How Little I Know", in Saturday Review (12 Nov 1966), 152. Excerpted in Buckminster Fuller and Answar Dil, Humans in Universe (1983), 31.
1960s

Nature