A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

To an ancient Greek the discovery of private identity was a terrifying and horrible thing that came about with the discovery of visual space and fragmentary classification. Twentieth-century man is traveling the reverse course, from an extreme individual fragmentary state back into a condition of corporate involvement with all mankind. Paradoxically, this new involvement is experienced as alienation and loss of private selfhood.
“The Emperor's New Clothes”, (1968), reprinted in Essential McLuhan (1995), p 351
Year: 1968
Chapter: Identity
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan