Its [the anthropological method] power to make us understand the roots from which our civilization has sprung, that it impresses us with the relative value of all forms of culture, and thus serves as a check to an exaggerated valuation of the standpoint of our own period, which we are only too liable to consider the ultimate goal of human evolution, thus depriving ourselves of the benefits to be gained from the teachings of other cultures and hindering an objective criticism of our own work.

The historical development of the work of anthropologists seems to single out clearly a domain of knowledge that heretofore has not been treated by any other science

There is no fundamental difference in the ways of thinking of primitive and civilized man. A close connection between race and personality has never been established.

I object to teaching of slogans intended to befog the mind, of whatever kind they may be

If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present.

My father had retained an emotional affection for the ceremonial of his parental home, without allowing it to influence his intellectual freedom

We all know scientists who in private life do not come up to the standard of truthfulness, but who, nevertheless, would not consciously falsify the results of their researches