Marshall McLuhan (1911-80) was a Canadian philosopher of communication theory. His work was characterised by two things: an extraordinary prescience—much of what he wrote in the sixties has only really come to pass in the past ten years—and a capacity for a remarkable turn of phrase which, if somewhat self-regarding at times, managed to encapsulate truth memorably.
There is a rich collection of quotations on Wikiquote, almost all of which could be included here. This is a personal selection.
magazine article, Explorations (1957)
dinner address, Columbia University (1961)
The Gutenberg galaxy (1962)
The Gutenberg galaxy (1962)
Understanding media (1964)
Understanding media (1964)
Understanding media (1964)
journal article, American scholar (1965)
quoted, interview, Playboy (1969)
quoted, magazine interview, Maclean’s (1972)
letter to his son Eric McLuhan, regarding one of Eric’s daughters (1976)
The agenbite of outwit (published posthumously)
selection copyright © 2014 Jeremy Marchant . uploaded 3 may 2014 . revised 16 march 2018