WIST Quotations

Toffler, Alvin -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 22:48:57 +0000

The future always arrives too fast — and in the wrong order.

Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) American writer and futurist
(Attributed)

Toffler, Alvin -- (Paraphrase)

Dave — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 22:49:07 +0000

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those that cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) American writer and futurist
(Paraphrase)
(Source)

Sometimes given as "The illiterate of the future ..." This ubiquitous (mis)quotation of Toffler is a conflation of two sentences in ch. 18 of Toffler's Future Shock (1970).

On p. 414, Toffler writes, "By instructing students how to learn, unlearn and relearn, a powerful new dimension can be added to education."
In the next paragraph, he quotes psychologist Herbert Gerjuoy: "Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the man who can't read; he will be the man who has not learned how to learn."

Toffler, Alvin -- Future Shock (1970)

Dave — Mon, 24 May 2021 21:16:04 +0000

Combining rational intelligence with all the imagination we can command, let us project ourselves forcefully into the future. In doing so, let us not fear occasional error — the imagination is only free when fear of error is temporarily laid aside. Moreover, in thinking about the future, it is better to err on the side of daring, than the side of caution.

Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) American writer and futurist
Future Shock (1970)
(Source)

Toffler, Alvin -- Future Shock, ch. 16 (1970)

Dave — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:21:35 +0000

Unless we can extensively program our behavior, we waste tremendous amounts of information-processing capacity on trivia. This is why we form habits. Watch a committee break for lunch and then return to the same room: almost invariably its members seek out the same seats they occupied earlier. … Choosing the same seat spares us the need to survey and evaluate other possibilities.

Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) American writer and futurist
Future Shock, ch. 16 (1970)

Toffler, Alvin -- Future Shock, Introduction (1970)

Dave — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 22:23:36 +0000

Change is the process by which the future invades our lives.

Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) American writer and futurist
Future Shock, Introduction (1970)
(Source)

Toffler, Alvin -- Future Shock, Introduction (1970)

Dave — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:49:16 +0000

… “[F]uture shock” [is] the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time.

Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) American writer and futurist
Future Shock, Introduction (1970)
(Source)