A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

Compiled by William Kuhns
©2026 Marshall McLuhan Estate

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…the TV camera is very much more selective and abstract than the motion picture camera. In fact, what makes the pictorial as opposed to the iconic is the inclusion of a vast amount of detail. The filling-in of space with great quantities of detail is what the Renaissance painters learned to do in the third dimension. They discovered that you could take space and fill it with objects. The iconic man doesn’t fill space with objects. He makes space. The icon form tends not to be three-dimensional space so much as a made, shaped, molded, modulated resonating space.
“The Future of Man in the Electric Age” (Frank Kermode interview, 1965), in Understanding Me (2003), p 68
Quote #2807
Year: 1965
Chapter: Iconic

Drawn to McLuhan #5

Illustration of a smartphone whose screen displays a man in business attire curled into a cramped fetal position inside the device.
"New technology breeds new man."
Illustrated procession of warriors and soldiers through history — a Native American fighter, Roman legionaries, a medieval knight, WWI/WWII infantry, a modern rifle-armed soldier, a futuristic armored trooper, and an astronaut — set against a sky shifting from fire to outer space.
"Every new technology necessitates a new war."
Illustration of a giant boot-shaped prison labeled "Section 7" and "Processing," guarded by an armed soldier, with a long line of people below all staring down at their smartphones.
"Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but ... he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort."
Illustration of a young man and woman riding old-fashioned bicycles through a swirling, disorienting vortex surrounded by crumbling buildings, uprooted trees, and floating debris, with a torn sign reading "...cade de l'avenir."
"Our confused efforts to re-establish goals, habits, attitudes, and the sense of security they bring has become the main order of business."
Illustrated procession of warriors and soldiers through history — a Native American fighter, Roman legionaries, a medieval knight, WWI/WWII infantry, a modern rifle-armed soldier, a futuristic armored trooper, and an astronaut — set against a sky shifting from fire to outer space.
"We put on our technology as evolutionary clothing."
Illustration of a diverse group of pedestrians on a city sidewalk lined with a cafe and bookstore, most wearing headphones or earbuds and looking at their phones near a crosswalk.
"We can musically harmonize our lives to a fantastic degree. And we are headed that way."
Cartoon illustration of an awards-ceremony stage with a banner reading "This Year's Man of Distinction," where a crowd of identically dressed men in black tuxedos jostle forward to receive the same trophy from a smiling recipient.
"[We can expect] less and less distinction for more and more men of distinction."
Photo-style graphic of a smartphone displaying the YouTube logo (red play button and wordmark) centered against a pink-to-orange gradient background.
"[As we retribalize, we're certain to build] a new tribal encyclopedia of auditory incantation."
© The Estate of Marshall McLuhan