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Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead Quotes

Cultural Anthropologist

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Famous Margaret Mead Quotes

“The time has come, I think, when we must recognize bisexuality as a normal form of human behavior... we shall not really succeed in discarding the straitjacket of our cultural beliefs about sexual choice if we fail to come to terms with the well-documented, normal human capacity to love members of both sexes.”

IfsThinkingHumansWellsFormChoicesBeliefSexTermFailingSucceedMembersBehaviorNormalCapacityHuman BehaviorCapacity To LoveBisexualityHuman Capacity
Author:Margaret Mead
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“For Immanuel Kant, the term anthropology embraced all the human sciences, and laid the foundation of familiar knowledge we need, to build solidly grounded ideas about the moral and political demands of human life. Margaret Mead saw mid-twentieth-century anthropology as engaged in a project no less ambitious than Kant's own, and her Terry Lectures on Continuities in Cultural Evolution provide an excellent point to enter into her reflections.”

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Author:Margaret Mead
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“Margaret Mead was both a student of civilization and an exemplar of it. To a public of millions, she brought the central insight of cultural anthropology: that varying cultural patterns express an underlying human unity. She mastered her discipline, but she also transcended it. Intrepid, independent, plain spoken, fearless, she remains a model for the young and a teacher from whom all may learn.”

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Author:Margaret Mead
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“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
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“The first step in the direction of a world rule of law is the recognition that peace no longer is an unobtainable ideal but a necessary condition of continued human existence. But to take even this step we must return to a calm and responsible frame of mind in which we can face the long patient tasks ahead.”

WorldMindFirstsHumansLongFacesLawExistenceStepsConditionsReturnIdealsTasksResponsiblePatientCalmRecognitionFirst StepsRule Of LawHuman ExistenceFrame Of Mind
Author:Margaret Mead
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“where families suffer from disasters that are preventable, this is a measure of a whole nation's neglect. A society imperils its own future when, out of negligence or contempt, it overlooks the need of children to be reared in a family ... or when, in the midst of plenty, some families cannot give their children adequate food and shelter, safe activity and rest, and an opportunity to grow into full adulthood as people who can care for and cherish other human beings like themselves.”

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Author:Margaret Mead
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“laughter, that distinctively human emotion, laughter which springs from trust in the other, from willingness to put oneself momentarily in the other's place, even at one's own expense, is the special emotional basis of democratic procedures, just as pride is the emotion of an aristocracy, shame of a crowd that rules, and fear of a police state.”

HumansStatesEmotionDemocracySpecialEmotionalPrideSpringLaughterBasesPoliceShameDemocraticOneselfCrowdsExpensesWillingnessProceduresAristocracyPolice StateHuman Emotions
Author:Margaret Mead
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“Those social behaviors which automatically preclude the building of a democratic world must go - every social limitation of human beings in terms of heredity, whether it be of race, or sex, or class. Every social institution which teaches human beings to cringe to those above and step on those below must be replaced by institutions which teach people to look each other straight in the face.”

PeopleWorldHumansLooksFacesSocialSexTermHuman BeingsRaceStepsClassTeachBuildingBehaviorInstitutionsDemocraticEqualityLimitationReplacedCringeHereditySocial InstitutionsSocial Behavior
Book:And Keep Your Powder Dry: An Anthropologist Looks at America
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“Living in the modern world, clothed and muffled, forced to convey our sense of our bodies in terms of remote symbols like walking sticks and umbrellas and handbags, it is easy to lose sight of the immediacy of the human body plan.”

WorldHumansBodyEasyTermLosesPlansModernWalkingSightSticksSymbolsHuman BodyModern WorldUmbrellaImmediacyHandbagsWalking Sticks
Book:Male and female: a study of the sexes in a changing world
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“In contrast to our own social environment which brings out different aspects of human nature and often demonstrated that behavior which occurs almost invariably in individuals within our society is nevertheless due not to original nature but to social environment; and a homogeneous and simple development of the individual may be studied.”

HumansMayDifferentIndividualSocialSimpleEnvironmentHuman NatureDevelopmentBehaviorAspectOriginalsDuesOur SocietyContrastNeverthelessHomogeneousSocial Environment
Book:Growing Up in New Guinea: A Comparative Study of Primitive Education
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“Female animals defending their young are notoriously ferocious and lack the playful delight in combat which characterizes the mock combats of males of the same species. There seems very little ground for claiming that the mother of young children is more peaceful, more responsible, and more thoughtful for the welfare of the human race than is her husband or brother.”

HumansChildrenLittlesSeemsYoungMotherAnimalRaceBrotherHusbandFemaleResponsibleSpeciesMalesDelightPeacefulWelfareHuman RaceThoughtfulCombatMockYoung Children
Author:Margaret Mead
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“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.”

IfsHumansWholeValuesCultureSocialWomenHistoryRichAchieveDiversitySocial JusticeToleranceDiverseFabricArbitraryFittingUnity In DiversityHuman ValuesI Am WomanInspirational DiversityDiversity Of LifeHuman DiversitySamoaDiverse CulturesFitting Together
Author:Margaret Mead
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“Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being.”

NeedsHumansOrderHuman BeingsAccessGrandmotherGrandparentGrandchildrenMy GrandmotherGrandmaGrandpaChildren And GrandchildrenMy GrandchildrenGrandkidsParents And GrandparentsMy GrandmaYour GrandmotherGrandparents DayGrandchildren And GrandparentsGrandparents From GrandchildrenMother And GrandmotherFunny GrandparentGrandmother And GrandchildrenMother GrandmotherFunny GrandmotherBeing A GrandmotherGrand MotherHappy Mothers Day GrandmotherFunny GrandchildrenNana's And GrandchildrenHappy Grandparents DayGrandmas And MomsBeing A GrandmaMothers Day GrandmaBest Grandparents
Book:Blkberry Winter
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“EARTH DAY uses one of humanity's great discoveries, the discovery of anniversaries by which, throughout time, human beings have kept their sorrows and their joys, their victories, their revelations and their obligations alive, for re-celebration and re-dedication another year, another decade, another century, another eon.”

YearsHumansUseEarthJoyHumanityHuman BeingsAliveSadnessCenturyVictorySorrowDiscoveryDecadesObligationRevelationsCelebrationDedicationEarth DayAnother Year
Author:Margaret Mead
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“When human beings have been fascinated by the contemplation of their own hearts, the more intricate biological pattern of the female has become a model for the artist, the mystic, and the saint. When mankind turns instead to what can be done, altered, built, invented, in the outer world, all natural properties of men, animals, or metals become handicaps to be altered rather than clues to be followed.”

MenWorldHumansHeartHas BeensDoneBodyArtistTurnsNaturalHuman BeingsAnimalMankindModelsBuiltFemalePropertySaintPatternsContemplationFascinatedMetalsClueMysticAlteredIntricateHandicapsOuter Worlds
Book:Male and female: a study of the sexes in a changing world
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“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
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“Many people are shrinking from the future and from participation in the movement toward a new, expanded reality. And, like homesick travelers abroad, they are focusing their anxieties on home. The reasons are not far to seek. We are at a turning point in human history. . . . We could turn our attention to the problems that going to the Moon certainly will not solve ... But I think this would be fatal to our future. . . . A society that no longer moves forward does not merely stagnate; it begins to die.”

PeopleThinkingLifeInspirationalHumansDoeReasonProblemHomeRealityWould BeMovingDiesTurnsAttentionMovementFutureMoonAnxietySolveMoving ForwardOur FutureTravelerParticipationPredictionsHuman HistoryTurning PointsShrinkingHomesick
Author:Margaret Mead
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“Human beings do not carry civilization in their genes. All that we do carry in our genes are certain capacities- the capacity to learn to walk upright, to use our brains, to speak, to relate to our fellow men, to construct and use tools, to explore the universe, and to express that exploration in religion, in art, in science, in philosophy.”

MenHumansArtPhilosophyUseCertainUniverseSpeakHuman BeingsWalksBrainCivilizationCapacityToolsFellowsRelateExplorationGenesConstructsFellow ManAssessment
Author:Margaret Mead
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“The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does he picture us caught in a tremendous man-made or God-made trap from which there is no escape, but we must also listen to him day in, day out, describe how the trap is inexorably closing. To such prophecies the human race, as presently bred and educated and situated, is incapable of listening. So some dance and some immolate themselves as human torches; some take drugs and some artists spill their creativity in sets of randomly placed dots on a white ground.”

MenHumansDoeMadeArtistWhiteRaceCreativityFailingListeningDrugCaughtEducatedAlternativesHuman RaceProphetTrapsIncapableProphecyDoomClosingSpillsDotsTorchesBearable
Author:Margaret Mead
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