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Top 30 Charles C. Mann Quotes (2025 Update)

Charles C. Mann Quote: “The embrace of a new technology by ordinary people leads inevitably to its embrace by people of malign intent.”

1. “The embrace of a new technology by ordinary people leads inevitably to its embrace by people of malign intent.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Colonial writers knew that disease tilled the virgin soil of the Americas countless times in the sixteenth century. But what they did not, could not, know is that the epidemics shot out like ghastly arrows from the limited areas they saw to every corner of the hemisphere, wreaking destruction in places that never appeared in the European historical record.”

2. “Colonial writers knew that disease tilled the virgin soil of the Americas countless times in the sixteenth century. But what they did not, could not, know is that the epidemics shot out like ghastly arrows from the limited areas they saw to every corner of the hemisphere, wreaking destruction in places that never appeared in the European historical record.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “He that speaks seldom and opportunely, being as good as his word, is the only man they love,” Wood explained. Character.”

3. “He that speaks seldom and opportunely, being as good as his word, is the only man they love,” Wood explained. Character.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “The Wizard and the Prophet is a book about the way knowledgeable people might think about the choices to come, rather than what will happen in this or that scenario. It is a book about the future that makes no predictions.”

4. “The Wizard and the Prophet is a book about the way knowledgeable people might think about the choices to come, rather than what will happen in this or that scenario. It is a book about the future that makes no predictions.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “The conflict between these visions is not between good and evil, but between different ideas of the good life, between ethical orders that give priority to personal liberty and those that give priority to what might be called connection.”

5. “The conflict between these visions is not between good and evil, but between different ideas of the good life, between ethical orders that give priority to personal liberty and those that give priority to what might be called connection.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Much of this world vanished after Columbus, swept away by disease and subjugation. So thorough was the erasure that within a few generations neither conqueror nor conquered knew that this world had existed.”

6. “Much of this world vanished after Columbus, swept away by disease and subjugation. So thorough was the erasure that within a few generations neither conqueror nor conquered knew that this world had existed.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “The way I think of it, economics and ecology occupy two intellectual silos, isolated from each other. Even when they do take each other into consideration, it’s not uncommon for ecologists to spout absolute nonsense about economics, and vice versa.”

7. “The way I think of it, economics and ecology occupy two intellectual silos, isolated from each other. Even when they do take each other into consideration, it’s not uncommon for ecologists to spout absolute nonsense about economics, and vice versa.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Dobyns argued that the Indian population in 1491 was between 90 and 112 million people. Another way of saying this is that when Columbus sailed more people lived in the Americas than in Europe.”

8. “Dobyns argued that the Indian population in 1491 was between 90 and 112 million people. Another way of saying this is that when Columbus sailed more people lived in the Americas than in Europe.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “On Columbus’s later voyages, his crew happily accepted godhood – until the Taino began empirically testing their divinity by forcing their heads underwater for long periods to see if the Spanish were, as gods should be, immortal.”

9. “On Columbus’s later voyages, his crew happily accepted godhood – until the Taino began empirically testing their divinity by forcing their heads underwater for long periods to see if the Spanish were, as gods should be, immortal.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “It is always easy for those living in the present to feel superior to those who lived in the past.”

10. “It is always easy for those living in the present to feel superior to those who lived in the past.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “The Japanese drive on the left side of the road. Most streets literally do not have names.”

11. “The Japanese drive on the left side of the road. Most streets literally do not have names.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Those looking for a tale of cultural superiority can find it in zero; those looking for failure can find it in the wheel. Neither line of argument is useful, though. What.”

12. “Those looking for a tale of cultural superiority can find it in zero; those looking for failure can find it in the wheel. Neither line of argument is useful, though. What.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “A whole bunch of big technological shocks occurred when Asian innovations – paper, gunpowder, the stirrup, the moldboard plow and so on – came to Europe via the Silk Road.”

13. “A whole bunch of big technological shocks occurred when Asian innovations – paper, gunpowder, the stirrup, the moldboard plow and so on – came to Europe via the Silk Road.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “The Maya collapsed because they overshot the carrying capacity of their environment. They exhausted their resource base, began to die of starvation and thirst, and fled their cities en masse, leaving them as silent warnings of the perils of ecological hubris.”

14. “The Maya collapsed because they overshot the carrying capacity of their environment. They exhausted their resource base, began to die of starvation and thirst, and fled their cities en masse, leaving them as silent warnings of the perils of ecological hubris.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “A world with a sudden limit on air travel would be tremendously different from the one we live in now.”

15. “A world with a sudden limit on air travel would be tremendously different from the one we live in now.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Prophets look at the world as finite, and people as constrained by their environment. Wizards see possibilities as inexhaustible, and humans as wily managers of the planet. One views growth and development as the lot and blessing of our species; others regard stability and preservation as our future and our goal. Wizards regard Earth as a toolbox, its contents freely available for use; Prophets think of the natural world as embodying an overarching order that should not casually be disturbed.”

16. “Prophets look at the world as finite, and people as constrained by their environment. Wizards see possibilities as inexhaustible, and humans as wily managers of the planet. One views growth and development as the lot and blessing of our species; others regard stability and preservation as our future and our goal. Wizards regard Earth as a toolbox, its contents freely available for use; Prophets think of the natural world as embodying an overarching order that should not casually be disturbed.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “A prerequisite for a successful scientific career is an enthusiastic willingness to pore through the minutiae of subjects that 99.9 percent of Earth’s population find screamingly dull.”

17. “A prerequisite for a successful scientific career is an enthusiastic willingness to pore through the minutiae of subjects that 99.9 percent of Earth’s population find screamingly dull.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Until Columbus, Indians were a keystone species in most of the hemisphere. Annually burning undergrowth, clearing and replanting forests, building canals and raising fields, hunting bison and netting salmon, growing maize, manioc, and the Eastern Agricultural Complex, Native Americans had been managing their environment for thousands of years.”

18. “Until Columbus, Indians were a keystone species in most of the hemisphere. Annually burning undergrowth, clearing and replanting forests, building canals and raising fields, hunting bison and netting salmon, growing maize, manioc, and the Eastern Agricultural Complex, Native Americans had been managing their environment for thousands of years.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Scientists have established huge numbers of links between particular diseases and snippets of DNA, but in the great majority of cases, this has not yet been translated into treatments that can help cure patients. These treatments will come – tomorrow, or the day after.”

19. “Scientists have established huge numbers of links between particular diseases and snippets of DNA, but in the great majority of cases, this has not yet been translated into treatments that can help cure patients. These treatments will come – tomorrow, or the day after.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “The human propensity is to believe that flukes of good fortune will never come to an end.”

20. “The human propensity is to believe that flukes of good fortune will never come to an end.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “The Japanese are great at inventing complex systems of rules, and not so great at explaining those rules to foreign visitors.”

21. “The Japanese are great at inventing complex systems of rules, and not so great at explaining those rules to foreign visitors.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “How could the colonists starve in the midst of plenty? One reason was that the English feared leaving Jamestown to fish, because Powhatan’s fighters were waiting outside the colony walls. A second reason was that a startlingly large proportion of the colonists were gentlemen, a status defined by not having to perform manual labor.”

22. “How could the colonists starve in the midst of plenty? One reason was that the English feared leaving Jamestown to fish, because Powhatan’s fighters were waiting outside the colony walls. A second reason was that a startlingly large proportion of the colonists were gentlemen, a status defined by not having to perform manual labor.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Rare is the human spirit that remains buoyant in a holocaust.”

23. “Rare is the human spirit that remains buoyant in a holocaust.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “By fall the settlers’ situation was secure enough that they held a feast of thanksgiving. Massasoit showed up with ninety people, most of them young men with weapons. The Pilgrim militia responded by marching around and firing their guns in the air in a manner intended to convey menace. Gratified, both sides sat down, ate a lot of food, and complained about the Narragansett. Ecce Thanksgiving.”

24. “By fall the settlers’ situation was secure enough that they held a feast of thanksgiving. Massasoit showed up with ninety people, most of them young men with weapons. The Pilgrim militia responded by marching around and firing their guns in the air in a manner intended to convey menace. Gratified, both sides sat down, ate a lot of food, and complained about the Narragansett. Ecce Thanksgiving.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Japanese maps tend to come in two varieties: small, schematic, and bewildering; and large, fantastically detailed, and bewildering.”

25. “Japanese maps tend to come in two varieties: small, schematic, and bewildering; and large, fantastically detailed, and bewildering.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Before Columbus, Holmberg believed, both the people and the land had no real history. Stated so baldly, this notion-that the indigenous peoples of the Americas floated changelessly through the millenia until 1492-may seem ludicrous. But flaws in perspective often appear obvious only after they are pointed out. In this case they took decades to rectify.”

26. “Before Columbus, Holmberg believed, both the people and the land had no real history. Stated so baldly, this notion-that the indigenous peoples of the Americas floated changelessly through the millenia until 1492-may seem ludicrous. But flaws in perspective often appear obvious only after they are pointed out. In this case they took decades to rectify.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Puebla shopkeepers complained that the country was fighting an invasion of counterfeits from China – a Chinese imitation of a Chinese-made Mexican imitation of a Chinese original.”

27. “Puebla shopkeepers complained that the country was fighting an invasion of counterfeits from China – a Chinese imitation of a Chinese-made Mexican imitation of a Chinese original.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “What Vogt saw in Peru would crystallize his picture of the world and the human place in it – a vision of limitation. It would bring him to the Prophet’s essential belief: humans have no special dispensation to escape biological constraints.”

28. “What Vogt saw in Peru would crystallize his picture of the world and the human place in it – a vision of limitation. It would bring him to the Prophet’s essential belief: humans have no special dispensation to escape biological constraints.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “How could these hierarchical, acquisitive, market-oriented, monotheistic, ethnocentric newcomers have absorbed ideas and customs from the egalitarian, reciprocal, noncapitalistic, pantheistic, ethnocentric natives? The.”

29. “How could these hierarchical, acquisitive, market-oriented, monotheistic, ethnocentric newcomers have absorbed ideas and customs from the egalitarian, reciprocal, noncapitalistic, pantheistic, ethnocentric natives? The.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Few things are more sublime or characteristically human than the cross-fertilization of cultures.”

30. “Few things are more sublime or characteristically human than the cross-fertilization of cultures.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Nature’s success stories, they are like Gause’s protozoans; the world is their petri dish. Their populations grow at a terrific rate; they take over large areas, engulfing their environment as if no force opposed them. Then they hit a barrier. They drown in their own wastes. They starve from lack of food. Something figures out how to eat them.”

31. “Nature’s success stories, they are like Gause’s protozoans; the world is their petri dish. Their populations grow at a terrific rate; they take over large areas, engulfing their environment as if no force opposed them. Then they hit a barrier. They drown in their own wastes. They starve from lack of food. Something figures out how to eat them.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Maize had an equivalent impact on much of the rest of the world after Columbus introduced it to Europe. Central Europeans became especially hooked on it; by the nineteenth century, maize was the daily bread of Serbia, Rumania, and Moldavia. So.”

32. “Maize had an equivalent impact on much of the rest of the world after Columbus introduced it to Europe. Central Europeans became especially hooked on it; by the nineteenth century, maize was the daily bread of Serbia, Rumania, and Moldavia. So.”

— Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann Quote: “Voltaire, Locke, Rousseau, and Hobbes never had a chance to speak with these men or even know of their existence – and here, at last, we begin to appreciate the enormity of the calamity, for the distintegration of native America was a loss not just to those societies but to the human enterprise as a whole.”

33. “Voltaire, Locke, Rousseau, and Hobbes never had a chance to speak with these men or even know of their existence – and here, at last, we begin to appreciate the enormity of the calamity, for the distintegration of native America was a loss not just to those societies but to the human enterprise as a whole.”

— Charles C. Mann

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