“The scapegoat upon whom the sins of the people are periodically laid, may also be a human being.” PeopleHumansMayHuman BeingsSinScapegoat Author:James G. Frazer
“For when a nation becomes civilized, if it does not drop human sacrifices altogether, it at least selects as victims only such wretches as would be put to death at any rate. Thus the killing of a god may sometimes come to be confounded with the execution of a criminal.” IfsHumansMayDoeSometimesWould BeNationsSacrificeVictimKillingRateCriminalsCivilizedExecution Author:James G. Frazer
“The consideration of human suffering is not one which enters into the calculations of primitive man.” MenHumansSufferingConsiderationPrimitiveCalculationsHuman SufferingPrimitive Man Author:James G. Frazer
“Yet it would be unfair to the generality of our kind to ascribe to their intellectual and moral weakness the gradual divergence of Buddhism and Christianity from their primitive patterns. For it should not be forgotten that by their glorification of poverty and celibacy both these religions struck straight at the root not merely of civil society but of human existence. The blow was parried by the wisdom or the folly of the vast majority of mankind, who refused to purchase a chance of saving their souls with the certainty of extinguishing the species.” ShouldHumansKindSoulWould BeChanceExistenceMoralChristianityPovertyMankindBuddhismIntellectualWeaknessRootsMajoritySpeciesForgottenPatternsBlowSavingCertaintyFollyPrimitiveUnfairHuman ExistenceCivil SocietyCelibacyGeneralitiesGlorificationDivergenceBuddhism And Christianity Author:James G. Frazer
“Hence the strong attraction which magic and science alike have exercised on the human mind; hence the powerful stimulus that both have given to the pursuit of knowledge. They lure the weary enquirer, the footsore seeker, on through the wilderness of disappointment in the present by their endless promises of the future: they take him up to the top of an exceeding high mountain and show him, beyond the dark clouds and rolling mists at his feet, a vision of the celestial city, far off, it may be, but radiant with unearthly splendour, bathed in the light of dreams.” MindHumansMayShowsDreamLightStrongGivenDarkPowerfulCitiesVisionMagicFeetPromiseMountainCloudsDisappointmentAttractionPursuitEndlessWildernessHuman MindRollingWearySeekersMistStimulusCelestialRadiantLurePursuit Of KnowledgeSplendourDark CloudsPromise Of The Future Author:James G. Frazer
“By religion, then, I understand a propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and of human life.” MenHumansReligionCoursesDirectSuperiorsHuman LifePropitiation Author:James G. Frazer
