“The natives of British Columbia live largely upon the fish which abound in their seas and rivers. If the fish do not come in due season, and the Indians are hungry, A Nootka wizard will make an image of a swimming fish and put it into the water in the direction from which the fish generally appear. This ceremony, accompanied by a prayer to the fish to come, will cause them to arrive at once.” IfsCausesWaterPrayerSeaRiversSeasonsFishesBritishDuesHungrySwimmingCeremonyWizardsColumbiaBritish Columbia Author:James G. Frazer
“But once a fool always a fool, and the greater the power in his hands the more disastrous is likely to be the use he makes of it. The heaviest calamity in English history, the breach with America, might never have occurred if George the Third had not been an honest dullard.” IfsUseHandsMightAmericaGreaterHonestFoolThirdsCalamityBreachEnglish History Author:James G. Frazer
“If the test of truth lay in a show of hands or a counting of heads, the system of magic might appeal, with far more reason than the Catholic Church, to the proud motto, 'Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus' [always, everywhere, and by all], as the sure and certain credential of its own infallibility.” IfsReasonShowsHandsMightCertainChurchMagicProudTestsCatholicLaysAppealsMottoCountingCatholic ChurchInfallibility Author:James G. Frazer
“If mankind had always been logical and wise, history would not be a long chronicle of folly and crime.” IfsLongWiseMankindCrimeFollyLogicalChronicles 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
