Date: 1901-2, 1902

"In the end we fall back on the hackneyed symbolism of a mechanical equilibrium. A mind is a system of ideas, each with the excitement it arouses, and with tendencies impulsive and inhibitive, which mutually check or reinforce one another."

— James, William (1842-1910)

Date: 1901-2, 1902

"Every individual soul, in short, like every individual machine or organism, has its own best conditions of efficiency. A given machine will run best under a certain steam-pressure, a certain amperage; an organism under a certain diet, weight, or exercise."

— James, William (1842-1910)

Date: 1902

"The whole process, unless interrupted, would according to this hypothesis, run down like an alarm-clock; or it would be as with a row of bricks appropriately arranged: as the top portion of the first brick received a push in the direction of the other bricks, it would fall on the second brick, w...

— Spiller, Gustav (1864-1940)

Date: 1906

"From the old-world point of view, the American had no mind; he had an economic thinking-machine which could work only on a fixed line. "

— Adams, Henry (1838-1918)

Date: 1906

"The American mind exasperated the European as a buzz-saw might exasperate a pine forest."

— Adams, Henry (1838-1918)

Date: December 28, 1932

"My own brain is to me the most unaccountable of machinery--always buzzing, humming, soaring roaring diving, and then buried in mud."

— Woolf, Virgina (1882-1941)

Date: 1937

"They are gadget-minded. If they see a thing that needs to be done, they rig up a device, mechanical or mental, and make the thing do itself with no further bother."

— Newton, Joseph Fort (1876-1950)

Date: 1937

"My hat is off to the gadget mind."

— Newton, Joseph Fort (1876-1950)

Date: 1937

"But, my friend goes on to say, there are some fields in which the gadget mind will not work; and here he gets under our skin a bit."

— Newton, Joseph Fort (1876-1950)

Date: 1937

"In other words, my friend argues rightly, something more than a gadget mind is needed to deal with the issues now before mankind."

— Newton, Joseph Fort (1876-1950)