... it is a commonplace that men like war. For peace, in our society, with the feeling we have then that it is feeble-minded to strive except for one's own private profit, is a lonely thing and a hazardous business.… — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
An observer will see the bizarre developments of behavior only in alien cultures, not his own. Nevertheless this is obviously a local and temporary… — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
In world history, those who have helped to build the same culture are not necessarily of one race, and those of the same race… — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
It is strange how long we rebel against a platitude until suddenly in a different lingo it looms up again as the only verity. — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
I gambled on having the strength to live two lives, one for myself and one for the world. — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
Western civilization, because of fortuitous historical circumstances, has spread itself more widely than any other local group that has so far been known. — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
The trouble is not that we are never happy - it is that happiness is so episodical — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
It is my necessary breath of life to understand and expression is the only justification of life that I can feel without prodding. — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences. — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
Success and failure in our own national economy will hang upon the degree to which we are able to work with races and nations… — Ruth Benedict Copy Share Image
