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Ruth Benedict Quotes

Anthropologist

American anthropologist known for her contributions to cultural anthropology and social anthropology. Benedict focused on the differences between cultures and how these differences affect human behavior and social structures.

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Famous Ruth Benedict Quotes

“The heavier our bodies, the higher our will, our spirit, rises above them.' 'The wearier we are, the more splendid the training.”

Body Spirit Higher Training Splendid Rise Above

Book:The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

Source: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

“The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community”

Firsts Individual Community Standards Patterns Accommodations

Author:Ruth Benedict

“If we justify war, it is because all peoples always justify the traits of which they find themselves possessed, not because war will bear an objective examination of its merits”

Ifs War Bears Objectives Merit Justify Traits Possessed Examination

Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE

Source: PATTERNS OF CULTURE

“Culture is not a biologically transmitted complex”

Culture Complexes

Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE

Source: PATTERNS OF CULTURE

“I gambled on having the strength to live two lives, one for myself and one for the world.”

World Two Gamer Two Lives

Book:An Anthropologist at Work

Source: An Anthropologist at Work

“As a matter of history great developments in art have often been remarkably separate from religious motivation and use.”

Art Matter Use Motivation Religious Development

Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE

Source: PATTERNS OF CULTURE

“Man is not committed in detail by his biological constitution to any particular variety of behavior.”

Men Particular Behavior Constitution Committed Details Variety

Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE

Source: PATTERNS OF CULTURE

“Culture, with its processes and functions, is a subject upon which we need all the enlightenment we can achieve, and there is no direction in which we can seek with greater reward than in the facts of pre-literate societies.”

Needs Facts Culture Process Greater Achieve Subjects Enlightenment Function Rewards

Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE

Source: PATTERNS OF CULTURE

“What really binds men together is their culture, the ideas and the standards they have in common.”

Men Ideas Together Culture Common Standards

Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE

Source: PATTERNS OF CULTURE

“Western civilization, because of fortuitous historical circumstances, has spread itself more widely than any other local group that has so far been known.”

Known Groups Circumstances Civilization Historical Western Spread Locals Western Civilization Fortuitous

Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE

Source: PATTERNS OF CULTURE

“Traditional Anglo-Saxon intolerance is a local and temporal culture trait like any other.”

Culture Locals Traditional Traits Intolerance Anglo Saxon

Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE

Source: PATTERNS OF CULTURE

“In a day of footloose movements of people and of mixed marriages in the ancestry of the most desirable elements of the community we preach unabashed the gospel of the pure race.”

People Community Race Movement Pure Elements Desirable Ancestry Footloose

Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE

Source: PATTERNS OF CULTURE

“We must accept all the implications of our human inheritance, one of the most important of which is the small scope of biologically transmitted behavior, and the enormous role of the cultural process of the transmission of tradition.”

Humans Important Process Accepting Roles Behavior Tradition Enormous Scope Inheritance Implications Transmission

Author:Ruth Benedict

“In a world that holds books and babies and canyon trails, why should one condemn oneself to live day-in, day-out with people one does not like, and sell oneself to chaperone and correct them?”

People World Should Children Doe Book Baby Sells Oneself Trails Canyons Chaperones

Book:An Anthropologist at Work

Source: An Anthropologist at Work

“The crucial differences which distinguish human societies and human beings are not biological. They are cultural.”

Humans Culture Differences Human Beings Crucial Human Society

Author:Ruth Benedict

“The adequate study of culture, our own and those on the opposite side of the globe, can press on to fulfillment only as we learn today from the humanities as well as from the scientists.”

Wells Today Humanity Culture Sides Study Opposites Scientist Presses Fulfillment Globes Adequate Arts And Humanities

Book:An Anthropologist at Work

Source: An Anthropologist at Work

About the Author

Born: June 5, 1887
Died: September 17, 1948
Known for: Anthropologist
Quotes: 66

Books & Sources

An Anthropologist at WorkRelated source material

PATTERNS OF CULTURERelated source material

Race: Science and PoliticsRelated source material

The Chrysanthemum and the SwordRelated source material

The chrysanthemum and the sword: patterns of Japanese cultureRelated source material

Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese CultureRelated source material

Public Affairs PamphletRelated source material

Scientific PapersRelated source material

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