Top 15 Kenneth E. Boulding Quotes

(ix) To complete the structure of systems we should add a final turret for transcendental systems...

(viii) Because of the vital importance for the individual man of symbolic images and behavior based on them it is not easy to separate clearly the level of the individual human organism from the next level, that of social organizations...

(vii) The next level is the "human" level, that is of the individual human being considered as a system...

(vi) … the "animal" level, characterized by increased mobility, teleological behavior and self-awareness...

(v) The fifth level might be called the genetic~societal level; it is typified by the plant, and it dominates the empirical world of the botanist.

(iv) The fourth level is that of the "open system," or self-maintaining structure...

(iii) The next level is that of the control mechanism or cybernetic system, which might be nicknamed the level of the thermostat...

(ii) The next level of systematic analysis is that of the simple dynamic system with predetermined, necessary motions...

(i) The first level is that of the static structure. It might be called the level of frameworks...

In any evolutionary process even in the arts the search for novelty becomes corrupting.

Canada has no cultural unity no linguistic unity no religious unity no economic unity no geographic unity. All it has is unity.

Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure.

If we saw tomorrow’s newspaper today, tomorrow would never happen.

Don't go to great trouble to optimize something that never should be done at all. Aim to enhance total systems properties, such as creativity, stability, diversity, resilience, and sustainability–whether they are easily measured or not.

Mathematics brought rigor to Economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis