Terence McKenna quote: “Western civilization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of this planet.”

“A book is a loaded gun.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Part 1
Variant: A book is a loaded gun in the house next door.
Source: Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

“You're a loaded gun”

Jon Bon Jovi (1962) American singer and musician

Music, Slippery When Wet (1986)

“Load up on guns, bring your friends.”

Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist

Song lyrics, Nevermind (1991)

“A book is a loaded gun in the house next door.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Part 1
Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

“The purest surrealist act is walking into a crowd with a loaded gun and firing into it randomly”

André Breton (1896–1966) French writer

“Secrets with girls, like loaded guns with boys,
Are never valued till they make a noise.”

George Crabbe (1754–1832) English poet, surgeon, and clergyman

"The Maid's Story", line 84 (1819).
Tales of the Hall (1819)

“Jack: [pointing a pistol at Bob's trousers] I'm going to blow your brains out.
[Bob adjusts Jack's gun arm, so that the pistol is now pointing at Bob's head]”

Jack Benny (1894–1974) comedian, vaudeville performer, and radio, television, and film actor

The Jack Benny Program (Radio: 1932-1955), The Jack Benny Program (Television: 1950-1965)

“In fact, giving society cheap, abundant energy at this point would be the moral equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun. With cheap, abundant energy, the attempt clearly would be made to pave, develop, industrialize, and exploit every last bit of the planet—a trend that would inevitably lead to a collapse of the life-support systems upon which civilization depends.”

Paul R. Ehrlich (1932) American scientist and environmentalist

"An ecologist's perspective on nuclear power", Federation of American Scientists Public Interest Report vol. 28, no. 5-6 (May-June, 1975) https://fas.org/faspir/archive/1970-1981/May-June1975.pdf, page 5.

“A civilization which is dominated by this matter-of-fact insight must prevail against any cultural scheme that lacks this element. This characteristic of western civilization comes to a head in modern science, and finds its highest material expression in the technology of the machine industry.”

Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) American academic

Source: "The Place of Science in Modern Civilization", 1906, p. 355

“A civilization which is dominated by this matter-of-fact insight must prevail against any cultural scheme that lacks this element. This characteristic of western civilization comes to a head in modern science, and finds its highest material expression in the technology of the machine industry.”

Frank Knight (1885–1972) American economist

Source: "The Place of Science in Modern Civilization", 1906, p. 355

“Western civilization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of this planet.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Terence McKenna 111

Related quotes

Related topics