Harold Innis Quotes

• The significance of a basic medium to its civilization is difficult to appraise since the means of appraisal are influenced by the media, and indeed the fact of appraisal appears to be peculiar to certain types of media. A change in the type of medium implies a change in the type of appraisal and hence makes it difficult for one civilization to understand another.

  Harold Innis

  Mean, Media, Civilization

  Harold Adams Innis (2007). “Empire and Communications”, p.29, Rowman & Littlefield

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• We must appraise civilization in relation to its territory and in relation to its duration. The character of the medium of communication tends to create a bias in civilization favourable to an over-emphasis on the time concept or on the space concept and only at rare intervals are the biases offset by the influence of another medium and stability achieved.

  Harold Innis

  Communication, Character, Civilization

  Harold Innis (1999). “The Bias of Communication”, p.99, University of Toronto Press

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• The overwhelming pressure of mechanization evident in the newspaper and the magazine, has led to the creation of vast monopolies of communication. Their entrenched positions involve a continuous, systematic, ruthless destruction of elements of permanence essential to cultural activity.

  Harold Innis

  Communication, Essentials, Elements

  "Changing Concepts of Time". Book by Harold Innis, p. 15, 1952.

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• The discovery of printing in the middle of the fifteenth century implied the beginning of a return to a type of civilization dominated by the eye rather than the ear.

  Harold Innis

  Eye, Discovery, Civilization

  Harold Adams Innis, Daniel Drache (1995). “Staples, Markets, and Cultural Change: Selected Essays”, p.321, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

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• The effect of the discovery of printing was evident in the savage religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Application of power to communication industries hastened the consolidation of vernaculars, the rise of nationalism, revolution, and new outbreaks of savagery in the twentieth century.

  Harold Innis

  Religious, War, Communication

  Harold Innis (1999). “The Bias of Communication”, p.67, University of Toronto Press

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• Canada emerged as a political entity with boundaries largely determined by the fur trade. These boundaries included a vast north temperate land area extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and dominated by the Canadian Shield. The present Dominion emerged not in spite of geography but because of it.

  Harold Innis

  Land, Political, Fur

  "The Fur Trade in Canada". Book by Harold Innis, "Conclusion", p. 393, 1930.

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• It is suggested that all written works, including this one, have dangerous implications to the vitality of an oral tradition and to the health of a civilization, particularly if they thwart the interest of a people in culture, and following Aristotle, the cathartic effects of culture. "It is written but I say unto you" is a powerful directive to Western civilization.

  Harold Innis

  Powerful, Civilization, People

  "Empire and Communications". Book by Harold Innis, pp. 19-20, 2007.

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• The mixture of the oral and the written traditions in the writings of Plato enabled him to dominate the history of the West.

  Harold Innis

  Plato, Writing, Mixtures

  Harold Adams Innis (1948). “Minerva's owl: presidential address reprinted from the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Canada, 1947”

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• Graham Wallas has reminded us that writing as compared with speaking involves an impression at the second remove and reading an impression at the third remove. The voice of a second-rate person is more impressive than the published opinion of superior ability.

  Harold Innis

  Reading, Writing, Voice

  Harold Adams Innis (2007). “Empire and Communications”, p.31, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Writing with a simplified alphabet checked the power of custom of an oral tradition but implied a decline in the power of expression and the creation of grooves which determined the channels of thought of readers and later writers.

  Harold Innis

  Writing, Expression, Oral Tradition

  Harold Innis (1999). “The Bias of Communication”, p.50, University of Toronto Press

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• The full impact of printing did not become possible until the adoption of the Bill of Rights in the United States with its guarantee of freedom of the press. A guarantee of freedom of the press in print was intended to further sanctify the printed word and to provide a rigid bulwark for the shelter of vested interests.

  Harold Innis

  Impact, Rights, Printed Word

  Harold Innis (1999). “The Bias of Communication”, p.56, University of Toronto Press

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• Industrialism implies technology and the cutting of time into precise fragments suited to the needs of the engineer and the accountant.

  Harold Innis

  Cutting, Technology, Needs

  Harold A. Innis, Daniel Drache (1995). “Staples, Markets, and Cultural Change: Selected Essays”, p.323, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

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• Democracy will defeat the economist at every turn on its own genre.

  Harold Innis

  Democracy, Defeat, Economics

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• The Middle Ages burned its heretics and the modern age threatens them with atom bombs.

  Harold Innis

  Age, Atoms, Bombs

  Harold A. Innis, Daniel Drache (1995). “Staples, Markets, and Cultural Change: Selected Essays”, p.17, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

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• We have not yet realized that the Indian and his culture were fundamental to the growth of Canadian institutions.

  Harold Innis

  Growth, Culture, Fundamentals

  Harold Innis (2017). “The Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic History”, p.318, University of Toronto Press

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• The diversity of institutions has made possible the combination of government ownership and private enterprise which has been a further characteristic of Canadian development. Canada has remained fundamentally a product of Europe.

  Harold Innis

  Government, Europe, Diversity

  Harold Adams Innis (1995). “Staples, Markets, and Cultural Change: Selected Essays”, p.21, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

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• Following the invention of writing, the special form of heightened language, characteristic of the oral tradition and a collective society, gave way to private writing. Records and messages displaced the collective memory. Poetry was written and detached from the collective festival.

  Harold Innis

  Memories, Writing, Collective Memory

  Harold Adams Innis (2007). “Empire and Communications”, p.31, Rowman & Littlefield

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• The history of Canada has been profoundly influenced by the habits of an animal which very fittingly occupies a prominent place on her coat of arms.

  Harold Innis

  Animal, Coats, Arms

  Harold Adams Innis (1999). “The Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic History”, p.3, University of Toronto Press

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