Ruth Benedict Quotes & Sayings

“The trouble with life isn't that there is no answer, it's that there are so many answers.”

“The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.”

“Our faith in the present dies out long before our faith in the future.”

“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.”

“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”

“A man's indebtedness is not virtue; his repayment is. Virtue begins when he dedicates himself actively to the job of gratitude.”

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

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

“I have always used the world of make-believe with a certain desperation.”

“Culture is not a biologically transmitted complex.”