What does "we become what we behold" mean?
Quick answer
“We become what we behold” means that what we look at and pay attention to shapes who we become. It’s best known from John Culkin’s 1967 summary of Marshall McLuhan: “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”
Where the quote comes from
- 1804–1820William Blake’s long poem Jerusalem repeats the line “they became what they beheld”
- 1964Marshall McLuhan publishes Understanding Media, famous for “the medium is the message”
- 1967Father John Culkin writes about McLuhan’s ideas in the Saturday Review, including “We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”
- 2014Game designer Nicky Case releases a short browser game called We Become What We Behold, about news cycles
The full quote is often credited to McLuhan himself, but it was Culkin who wrote it while explaining McLuhan’s thinking.
What it means
The idea works on two levels:
- Personal: The things we focus on, such as the people we admire, the media we watch and the thoughts we repeat, gradually influence our values and behavior.
- Technological: We invent tools to serve us, but over time those tools change how we think and live. The printing press, television and smartphones each reshaped attention, habits and society.
Why it’s quoted so often today
The line is popular in discussions about social media and screens. Feeds are designed around what holds our attention, and critics argue that constant exposure to outrage or comparison can shape mood and beliefs. Supporters of new technology point out that tools can also shape us for the better, by spreading knowledge and connecting people.
Similar sayings
| Saying | Source |
|---|---|
| “The medium is the message.” | Marshall McLuhan |
| “You are what you eat.” | Proverb, adapted from 19th-century writers |
| “We are what we repeatedly do.” | Will Durant, summarizing Aristotle |
Exploring how language creates meaning? See what a metaphor is, since “behold” here is about much more than just looking.
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