--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No contact with savage Indian tribes has…" description: "\"No contact with savage Indian tribes has ever daunted me more than the morning I spent with an old lady swathed in woolies who compared herself to a ro..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a2/claude-levi-strauss-8995_anthropology_no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has_3109130.jpg" --- # No contact with savage Indian tribes has ever daunted me… ![“No contact with savage Indian tribes has ever daunted me more than the morning I spent with an old lady swathed in woolies who compared herself to a rotten herring encased in a block of ice.” quote by Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a2/claude-levi-strauss-8995_anthropology_no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has_3109130.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a2/claude-levi-strauss-8995_anthropology_no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has_3109130.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a2/claude-levi-strauss-8995_anthropology_no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has_3109130.jpg) > “No contact with savage Indian tribes has ever daunted me more than the morning I spent with an old lady swathed in woolies who compared herself to a rotten herring encased in a block of ice.” [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Encountering an extreme, uncomfortable situation can highlight how cultural differences feel alien and unsettling, prompting reflection on our own assumptions. **In simple terms:** Strange experiences reveal cultural alienation and personal bias. Key Takeaway Use discomfort to examine hidden biases. Themes culture alienation comfort zones reflection Mood uneasy curious Type observational anthropological When to use this quote - travel - cross‑cultural meetings - unexpected social encounters Key Concepts anthropology identity otherness Questions to Reflect On - What assumptions did you make about the lady? - How can you stay open in unfamiliar settings? A Different Perspective Discomfort may be misread as hostility rather than cultural distance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anthropology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anthropology/) [Ice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ice/) [Indian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indian/) [Indian tribes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indian-tribes/) [Morning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/morning/) [Savages](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/savages/) [Tribes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tribes/) ## Related quotes > [Anthropology found its Galileo in Rivers, its Newton in Mauss.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/anthropology-found-its-galileo-in-rivers-its-newton-in-mauss/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [The anthropologist respects history, but he does not accord it a special value. He conceives it as a study complementary to his own: one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/the-anthropologist-respects-history-but-he-does-not-accord-it-a/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pcanet, and other powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/where-today-are-the-pequot-where-are-the-narragansett-the-mohican-the/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [From several of the Indian tribes inhabiting the country bordering on Lake Erie purchases have been made of lands on conditions very favorable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-monroe/from-several-of-the-indian-tribes-inhabiting-the-country-bordering-on/) [James Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-monroe/) > [Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/love-your-life-perfect-your-life-beautify-all-things-in-your-life/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/sing-your-death-song-and-die-like-a-hero-going-home/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [Let us rededicate ourselves to the principle that all Americans have the tools to make the most of their God-given potential. For Indian tribes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-clinton/let-us-rededicate-ourselves-to-the-principle-that-all-americans-have/) [William J. Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-clinton/) > [What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crowfoot/what-is-life-it-is-the-flash-of-a-firefly-in-the-night-it-is-the-2/) [Crowfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crowfoot/) > [ \[last words\] What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crowfoot/last-words-what-is-life-it-is-the-flash-of-a-firefly-in-the-night/) [Crowfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crowfoot/) > [Our country has a trust responsibility to Indian tribes, and it seems like their voice has been lacking in so many conversations that we've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-haaland/our-country-has-a-trust-responsibility-to-indian-tribes-and-it-seems/) [Deb Haaland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-haaland/) > [Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/where-today-are-the-pequot-where-are-the-narragansett-the-mohican-the-2/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [This government to government relationship is the result of sovereign and independent tribal governments being incorporated into the fabric of our Nation, of Indian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-h-w-bush/this-government-to-government-relationship-is-the-result-of-sovereign/) [George H. W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-h-w-bush/) > [Our relations with the various Indian tribes continue to be of a pacific character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-polk/our-relations-with-the-various-indian-tribes-continue-to-be-of-a/) [James K. Polk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-polk/) > [Infectious diseases introduced with Europeans, like smallpox and measles, spread from one Indian tribe to another, far in advance of Europeans themselves, and killed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-diamond/infectious-diseases-introduced-with-europeans-like-smallpox-and/) [Jared Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-diamond/) > [I'm so sick and tired of hearing about slavery. You think slavery didn't exist in Africa? Even Indian tribes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-duke/i-m-so-sick-and-tired-of-hearing-about-slavery-you-think-slavery-didn/) [David Duke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-duke/) ## More by Claude Levi-Strauss > [Our students wanted to know everything: but only the newest theory seemed to them worth bothering with. Knowing nothing of the intellectual achievements of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/our-students-wanted-to-know-everything-but-only-the-newest-theory/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [While I complain of being able to glimpse no more than the shadow of the past, I may be insensitive to reality as it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/while-i-complain-of-being-able-to-glimpse-no-more-than-the-shadow-of/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Civilization has ceased to be that delicate flower which was preserved and painstakingly cultivated in one or two sheltered areas of a soil rich…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/civilization-has-ceased-to-be-that-delicate-flower-which-was/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [These facts make the creator of music a being like the gods, and make music itself the supreme mystery of human knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/these-facts-make-the-creator-of-music-a-being-like-the-gods-and-make/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Being human signifies, for each one of us, belonging to a class, a society, a country, a continent and a civilization; and for us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/being-human-signifies-for-each-one-of-us-belonging-to-a-class-a/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [“For mile after mile the same melodic phrase rose up in my memory. I simply couldn’t get free of it. Each time it had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/for-mile-after-mile-the-same-melodic-phrase-rose-up-in-my-memory-i/) [Claude Lévi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Anthropology found its Galileo in Rivers, its Newton in Mauss.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/anthropology-found-its-galileo-in-rivers-its-newton-in-mauss/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/the-scientist-is-not-a-person-who-gives-the-right-answers-he-is-one/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Natural man did not precede society, nor is he outside it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/natural-man-did-not-precede-society-nor-is-he-outside-it/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [“For everything is history: What was said yesterday is history, what was said a minute ago is history. But, above all, one is led…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/for-everything-is-history-what-was-said-yesterday-is-history-what-was/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [In the old days, people used to risk their lives in India or in the Americas in order to bring back products which now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/in-the-old-days-people-used-to-risk-their-lives-in-india-or-in-the/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [The musical emotion springs precisely from the fact that at each moment the composer withholds or adds more or less than the listener anticipates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/the-musical-emotion-springs-precisely-from-the-fact-that-at-each/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Scientific knowledge advances haltingly and is stimulated by contention and doubt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/scientific-knowledge-advances-haltingly-and-is-stimulated-by/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [Understanding arises from reducing one type of reality into another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/understanding-arises-from-reducing-one-type-of-reality-into-another/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) > [All the essentials of humanity's artistic treasures can be found in New York.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/all-the-essentials-of-humanity-s-artistic-treasures-can-be-found-in/) [Claude Levi-Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) [Explore all 62 Claude Levi-Strauss quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/) ## More Anthropology quotes > [“Marriage," "mating," and "love" are socially constructed phenomena that have little or no transferable meaning outside any given culture. The examples we've noted of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-ryan/marriage-mating-and-love-are-socially-constructed-phenomena-that-have/) [Christopher Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-ryan/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“A geneticist is a geek who claims to have proven through regression analyses that a Neanderthal had sex with your great-grandmother 50,000 years ago.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gaede/a-geneticist-is-a-geek-who-claims-to-have-proven-through-regression/) [Bill Gaede](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gaede/) > [Michael Jackson is an extremely productive ethnographer, a serious reader of phenomenological and existential philosophy, and a remarkable writer at a level that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-kleinman/michael-jackson-is-an-extremely-productive-ethnographer-a-serious/) [Arthur Kleinman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-kleinman/) > [Archaeology is the anthropology of the past, and science fiction is the anthropology of the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-d-vinge/archaeology-is-the-anthropology-of-the-past-and-science-fiction-is/) [Joan D. Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-d-vinge/) > [Modern anthropology ... opposes the utilitarian assumption that the primitive chants as he sows seed because he believes that otherwise it will not grow,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/modern-anthropology-opposes-the-utilitarian-assumption-that-the/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [For me, a bit of anthropology in the evening is always better than staying and watching the telly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-rhodes/for-me-a-bit-of-anthropology-in-the-evening-is-always-better-than/) [Nick Rhodes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-rhodes/) > [When you ask why did some particular question occur to a scientist or philosopher for the first time, or why did this particular approach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/when-you-ask-why-did-some-particular-question-occur-to-a-scientist-or/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [I didn't major in anthropology in college, but I do feel I had an education in different cultures very early on. My parents divorced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/i-didn-t-major-in-anthropology-in-college-but-i-do-feel-i-had-an/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [Anthropology is the only discipline that can access evidence about the entire human experience on this planet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-brian-schiffer/anthropology-is-the-only-discipline-that-can-access-evidence-about/) Michael Brian Schiffer > [“All social interactions require some loss of freedom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erol-ozan/all-social-interactions-require-some-loss-of-freedom/) [Erol Ozan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erol-ozan/) > [“Morphological anthropology applied to the physical study of children, is also a strong element in the growth of the new pedagogy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/montessori-maria/morphological-anthropology-applied-to-the-physical-study-of-children/) Montessori Maria > [There are savages without God in any proper sense of the word, but none without ghosts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-are-savages-without-god-in-any-proper-sense-of-the-word-but/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Anthropology was the science that gave her the platform from which she surveyed, scolded and beamed at the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-howard/anthropology-was-the-science-that-gave-her-the-platform-from-which/) [Jane Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-howard/) > [It's always amusing to look at how something early in the 20th century was written in anthropology and how it's written now. There's been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/it-s-always-amusing-to-look-at-how-something-early-in-the-20th/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) [Browse all 286 Anthropology quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anthropology/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "No contact with savage Indian tribes has ever daunted me more than the morning I spent with an old lady swathed in woolies who compared herself to a rotten herring encased in a block of ice.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Claude Levi-Strauss" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has-ever-daunted-me-more-than/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Anthropology" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has-ever-daunted-me-more-than/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a2/claude-levi-strauss-8995_anthropology_no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has_3109130.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a2/claude-levi-strauss-8995_anthropology_no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has_3109130.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a2/claude-levi-strauss-8995_anthropology_no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has_3109130.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“No contact with savage Indian tribes has ever daunted me more than the morning I spent with an old lady…” — Claude Levi-Strauss", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Claude Levi-Strauss", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-levi-strauss/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "No contact with savage Indian tribes...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has-ever-daunted-me-more-than/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-levi-strauss/no-contact-with-savage-indian-tribes-has-ever-daunted-me-more-than/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```