“The alphabet (and its extension into typography) made possible the spread of the power that is knowledge, and shattered the bonds of tribal man, thus exploding him into an agglomeration of individuals. Electric writing and speed pour upon him, instantaneously and continuously, the concerns of all ot…”
— Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
“Each form of transport not only carries, but translates and transforms the sender, the receiver, and the message. The use of any kind of medium or extension of man alters the patterns of interdependence among people, as it alters the ratios among our senses.”
— Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
“The term 'communication' has had an extensive use in connection with roads and bridges, sea routes, rivers, and canals, even before it became transformed into 'information movement' in the electric age. Perhaps there is no more suitable way of defining the character of the electric age than by first…”
— Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
“My approach to work was influenced by my parents: find the most straightforward solution — not necessarily simple, but appropriate — and do it the best you can. Start with a good idea and go for it. I learned a certain decisiveness that a lot of people lack; I learned how to quickly scrap an idea th…”
— Valentina Vignelli, Lella and Massimo Vignelli: Two Lives, One Vision
“Have we ever complained because we are misunderstood, misjudged, misidentified, slandered, misheard, and not heard? Precisely this is our fate — oh, for a long time yet! It is also our distinction; we should not honor ourselves sufficiently if we wished that it were otherwise. We are misidentified —…”
— Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
“Gradually we become tired of the old, of what we safely possess, and we stretch out our hands again. Even the most beautiful scenery is no longer assured of our love after we have lived in it for three months, and some more distant coast attracts our avarice: possessions are generally diminished by…”
— Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
“New York is a peninsula and Manhattan is an island and it doesn't belong to America — it is a continent by itself in a sense. That is why we are comfortable in New York; it is very European in one sense and very American in another and so it feels comfortable for an ex-patriot. But when you are in C…”
— Massimo Vignelli, Lella and Massimo Vignelli: Two Lives, One Vision
“Why is it better? How much better? Better for whom? Better for how long?”
— Jan Conradi, Lella and Massimo Vignelli: Two Lives, One Vision
“Do not deny history. American culture is based on novelty, on difference; Europeans are not interested in new ways as much as they are interested in refining a concept which has existed through the centuries. It is a continuing evolution, not a revolution.”
— Massimo Vignelli, Lella and Massimo Vignelli: Two Lives, One Vision