Quotessence
Home / Authors / Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead Quotes

Cultural Anthropologist

Filter quotes by topic

AllChildrenHumansPeopleMenWorldIfsSexCultureWayGroupsNeedsHuman BeingsSocialThinkingYoungProblemHas BeensWomenBelieveDifferent

Famous Margaret Mead Quotes

“In every human society of which we have any record, there are those who teach and those who learn, for learning a way of life is implicit in all human culture as we know it. But the separation of the teacher's role from the role of all adults who inducted the young into the habitual behavior of the group, was a comparatively late invention. Furthermore, when we do find explicit and defined teaching, in primitive societies we find it tied in with a sense of the rareness or the precariousness of some human tradition.”

KnowsWayHumansYoungLife IsCultureRolesTeachRecordsTeacherGroupsTeachingBehaviorLateAdultsTraditionSeparationInventionDefinedTiedPrimitiveHabitualHuman SocietyExplicitImplicit
Author:Margaret Mead
Create image

“Our first and most pressing problem is how to do away with warfare as a method of solving conflicts between national groups or between groups within a society who have different views about how the society is to be run. If you look back, you will see that warfare was an invention, just as ways of handling government or taxes are inventions. You will see, too, that once people use an invention they go on using it until they find another which they think is superior.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWayFirstsLooksDifferentWarUseProblemGovernmentRunningViewsGroupsGoes OnConflictTaxesMethodInventionSuperiorsWarfareDifferent Views
Book:PEOPLE AND PLACES
Create image

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

WorldLifeInspirationalTogetherSuccessPeaceWomenNatureChangeFriendshipCommunityLeadershipFreedomBusinessEducationCourageDoubtGroupsTeamCitizensDeterminationCharityCommittedActivismChanging The WorldThoughtfulMaking A DifferenceTeamworkPhilanthropyVolunteerSocial ChangeThings ChangeNever ChangeTeam BuildingSmall GroupsTeam WorkInspirational TeamChange For The BetterPeace JusticeBest TeamMake Peace Not WarGreat TeamTeamwTeam WorkingBuilding A TeamCooperation TeamworkNature ConservationWorld EnvironmentBeautiful EarthSmall ChangesInspirational TeamworkCooperation And TeamworkMaking A Difference In The WorldSave The EnvironmentTimes Have ChangedInspirational Team BuildingWorld Earth DayPeople Can ChangeTeam Work InspirationalTeam MotivationalSaving The EarthTeam MotivationTeam CollaborationVolunteerism And ServiceInspiring Team BuildingGreat Team BuildingTeamwork In BusinessVolunteering And ServiceEnvironmental HealthGroup Work
Book:The World Ahead: An Anthropologist Anticipates the Future
Create image

“The city as a center where, any day in any year, there may be a fresh encounter with a new talent, a keen mind or a gifted specialist-this is essential to the life of a country. To play this role in our lives a city must have a soul-a university, a great art or music school, a cathedral or a great mosque or temple, a great laboratory or scientific center, as well as the libraries and museums and galleries that bring past and present together. A city must be a place where groups of women and men are seeking and developing the highest things they know.”

KnowsMenYearsMindWellsMayArtSoulCountryPlaySchoolTogetherPastCitiesRolesOur LivesGroupsTalentEssentialsHighestMen And WomenLibraryUniversitySeekingDevelopingEncountersTemplesMuseumsGiftedGreat ArtLaboratoryGalleryCathedralsSpecialistsPast And PresentCity LifeMosquesGreat CitiesNew Talent
Book:Margaret Mead, some personal views
Create image

“Ninety-nine percent of the time humans have lived on this planet we've lived in tribes, groups of 12 to 36 people. Only during times of war, or what we have now, which is the psychological equivalent of war, does the nuclear family prevail, because it's the most mobile unit that can ensure the survival of the species. But for the full flowering of the human spirit we need groups, tribes.”

PeopleNeedsHumansDoeWarSpiritChangeGroupsPlanetsSurvivalPercentSpeciesNuclearNinePsychologicalCollaborationUnitsTribesSocial ChangeHuman SpiritNinetyMobileFloweringNinety NineNuclear Families
Author:Margaret Mead
Create image

“If they learn easily, they are penalized for being bored when they have nothing to do; if they excel in some outstanding way, they are penalized as being conspicuously better than the peer group. The culture tries to make the child with a gift into a one-sided person, to penalize him at every turn, to cause him trouble in making friends and to create conditions conducive to the development of a neurosis. Neither teachers, the parents of other children, nor the child peers will tolerate a Wunderkind.”

IfsWayTryingChildrenPersonsMotivationalTurnsCultureCausesParentTeacherTroubleGroupsConditionsDevelopmentBoredToleratePeersOutstandingNeurosisOne SidedMaking FriendsBeing BoredPeer Group
Author:Margaret Mead
Create image