43 Quotes by Tom Standage

Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.

When George Washington ran for election to Virginia’s local assembly, the House of Burgesses, in 1758, his campaign team handed out twenty-eight gallons of rum, fifty gallons of rum punch, thirty-four of wine, forty-six of beer, and two of cider – in a county with only 391 voters.

It is a sign of a medium’s immaturity when one of the main topics of discussion is the medium itself.

In the United States radio listeners were gathered up by networks that saw them as consumers to be sold to; in Britain they were the masses to be instructed and improved; in Germany they were the people to be indoctrinated and misled.

There were no musicians or dancers, for Plato believed that educated men ought to be capable of entertaining themselves by “speaking and listening in turns in an orderly manner.

When coffee became popular in Oxford and the coffee houses selling it began to multiply, the university authorities tried to clamp down, worrying that coffee houses promoted idleness and distracted members of the university from their studies.

Paul used social media to ensure that his view prevailed, cementing the establishment of the Christian church as a religion open to all, and not just to Jews. Such is his influence that his letters are still read out in Christian churches all over the world today – a striking testament to the power of documents copied and distributed along social networks.

This new, telegraphic writing style also influenced public speaking: short sound bites became popular because they were easier for stenographers to transcribe, and cheaper and quicker for reporters to transmit.

At the time there were no printing presses and no paper.