My parents had broken through the shackles of dogma

No one has ever proved that a human being, through his descent from a certain group of people, must of necessity have certain mental characteristics.

The passion for seeking the truth for truth's sake can be kept alive only if we continue to seek the truth for truth's sake.

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

Remember that in every single case in history the process of adaptation has been one of exceeding slowness. Do not look for the impossible, but do not let your path deviate from the quiet and steadfast insistence on full opportunities for your powers.

I hope I may have succeeded in presenting to you, however imperfectly, the currents of thought due to the work of the immortal Darwin which have helped to make anthropology what it is at the present time

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.