--- Winston Churchill, speech as Prime Minister to the House of Commons, October 1943, Hansard, HC Deb 28, volume 393, cc403-73 (accessed hansard.millbanksystems.com on December 7, 2023), cited by QuoteInvestigator, Quote Origin: We Shape Our Tools, and Thereafter Our Tools Shape Us, June 26, 2016 (accessed on December 7, 2023)
From Hansard
I beg to move, "That a Select Committee be appointed to consider and report upon plans for the rebuilding of the House of Commons and upon such alterations as may be considered desirable while preserving all its essential features." On the night of 10th May, 1941, with one of the last bombs of the last serious raid, our House of Commons was destroyed by the violence of the enemy, and we have now to consider whether we should build it up again, and how, and when. We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us. Having dwelt and served for more than 40 years in the late Chamber, and having derived fiery great pleasure and advantage therefrom, I, naturally, would like to see it restored in all essentials to its old form, convenience and dignity.
QuoteInvestigator goes on to describe related quotes:
- Henry David Thoreau, "But lo! men have become the tools of their tools ."
- John M. Culkin in “A Schoolman’s Guide to Marshall McLuhan”, "We shape our tools and thereafter they shape us."
- William J. Mitchell, "Now we make our networks and our networks make us."
