196 Quotes About Anthropology

Dreadful as all these processes may seem, they are only the resolution of certain carbon-based compounds into certain other carbon-based compounds. Carbon is the element of life and death. We share it with diamonds and dandelions, with kerosene an kelp. While we may wrinkle our noses at some of its manifestations, we ought also to remember that this element comes to us from the stars, which wheel over us forever in silent, glittering array, pure fires obeying celestial laws.

To gain an understanding of the mind leads on to an appreciation of what it means to be human.

The universe is made of stories, not atoms.

Současníkům se vždy zdá jejich aktuálně používaný myšlenkový systém jako jediný možný, a když se někteří jedinci při svých toulkách prostorem a časem seznámí s jiným způsobem myšlení, považují jej přinejmenším zpočátku za primitivnější, nejasný a méně vhodný. V otázce hodnocení vlastního systému a jeho srovnávání a jinými panuje vždy mnoho pověr.

La chasse est le fond de l’art.Le guet le fond de la contemplation.La faim le fond du désir.La carnivore le fond de l’admiration.

One of the many pieces of advice his father had given him—besides the importance of antivenom and the need for a good, sturdy blade—was that field anthropology was ninety percent preparation, and ten percent trying desperately to recover when you didn’t prepare properly.

Every civilization sees itself as the center of the world and writes its history as the central drama of human history.

It seems very strange that one must turn back, and be transported to the very beginnings of history, in order to arrive at an understanding of humanity as it is at present.

Nowhere is it writ that anthropoid apes should understand reality.