Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Alison Lurie

Quote by Alison Lurie

Work

Foreign Affairs

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Alison Lurie
Alison Lurie

American novelist born on September 3, 1926. Alison Lurie is known for her delicate psychological portrayals and profound insights into American social culture. more

You May Also Like

“... but as the traveller who has been once from home is wiser than he who has never left his own door step, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinise more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own. And, because of the particular problem which we set out to answer, this tale of another way of life is mainly concerned with education, with the process by which baby, arrived cultureless upon the human scene, becomes a full-fledged adult member of his or her society. The strongest light will fall upon the ways in which Samoan education, in its broadest sense, be able to turn, made newly and vividly self-conscious and self-critical, to judge anew and perhaps fashion differently the education we give our children.”

IntroductionPage 13
Book:Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation
Create image

“Bipedalism is a demanding and risky strategy. It means refashioning the pelvis into a full load-bearing instrument. To preserve the required strength, the birth canal in the female must be comparatively narrow. This has two very significant immediate consequences and one longer-term one. First, it means a lot of pain for any birthing mother and greatly increased danger of fatality to mother and baby both. Moreover, to get the baby's head through such a tight space it must be born while it's brain is still small - and while the baby, therefore, is still helpless. This means long-term infant care, which in turn implies solid male-female bonding.”

Science
Book:A Short History of Nearly Everything
Create image