Ruth Benedict
Ruth Benedict
Ruth Fulton Benedictwas an American anthropologist and folklorist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth5 June 1887
CountryUnited States of America
Ruth Benedict quotes about
men details constitution
Man is not committed in detail by his biological constitution to any particular variety of behavior.
men civilization white
The psychological consequences of this spread of white culture have been out of all proportion to the materialistic. This world-wide cultural diffusion has protected us as man had never been protected before from having to take seriously the civilizations of other peoples; it has given to our culture a massive universality that we have long ceased to account for historically, and which we read off rather as necessary and inevitable.
freedom men liberty
liberty is the one thing no man can have unless he grants it to others.
men ideas together
What really binds men together is their culture, the ideas and the standards they have in common.
eye men thinking
No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking.
gratitude jobs men
A man's indebtedness is not virtue; his repayment is. Virtue begins when he dedicates himself actively to the job of gratitude.
happiness happy trouble
The trouble is not that we are never happy - it is that happiness is so episodical
civilization historical groups
Western civilization, because of fortuitous historical circumstances, has spread itself more widely than any other local group that has so far been known.
brave degrees loyal
The Japanese are, to the highest degree, both aggressive and unaggressive, both militaristic and aesthetic, both insolent and polite, rigid and adaptable, submissive and resentful of being pushed around, loyal and treacherous, brave and timid, conservative and hospitable to new ways.
children hands watches
. . . work even when I'm satisfied with it is never my child I love nor my servant I've brought to heel. It's always busy work I do with my left hand, and part of me watches grudging the wastes of a lifetime.
expression justification feels
It is my necessary breath of life to understand and expression is the only justification of life that I can feel without prodding.
long different rebel
It is strange how long we rebel against a platitude until suddenly in a different lingo it looms up again as the only verity.
self civilization people
Most people are shaped to the form of their culture because of the enormous malleability of their original endowment. They are plastic to the moulding force of the society into which they are born. It does not matter whether, with the Northwest Coast, it requires delusions of self-reference, or with our own civilization the amassing of possessions. In any case the great mass of individuals take quite readily the form that is presented to them.
lenses looks unreasonable
We do not see the lens through which we look.