Human beings do not carry civilization in their genes. All that we do carry in our genes are certain capacities- the capacity to learn to walk upright, to use our brains, to speak, to relate to our fellow men, to construct and use tools, to explore the universe, and to express that exploration in religion, in art, in science, in philosophy.
Margaret Meadthere are now no elders who know more than the young themselves about what the young are experiencing.
Margaret MeadYou can no longer save your family, tribe or nation. You can only save the whole world.
Margaret MeadJealousy is not a barometer by which the depth of love can be read. It merely records the degree of the lover's insecurity.
Margaret MeadThe protection of a ten-year-old girl from her father's advances is a necessary condition of social order, but the protection of the father from temptation is a necessary condition of his continued social adjustment. The protections that are built up in the child against desire for the parent become the essential counterpart to the attitudes in the parent that protect the child.
Margaret Mead