The environment does not determine man's culture; it merely sets the outer limits and at the same time offers opportunities.

No child is capable of speech until he has heard other human beings speak, and even two infants reared together cannot develop a language from scratch.

An invention or new combination can be successful only if all if the elements necessary for the recombination are present in the culture.

In place of science, the Eskimo has only magic to bridge the gap between what he can understand and what is not known. Without magic, his life would be one long panic.

People who speak the same language can hate one another as easily as can people who speak unrelated languages.

Letters to the editors of English and American newspapers often contain expressions of horror about the new terms that creep into the language, and these expressions are usually accompanied by dire predictions about ruination of the mother tongue.

Men in all societies possess the biological equipment to remove their hats or shoes, but it is the birth within a particular culture that decides that a Jew will keep his hat and shoes on in his place of worship, a Mohammedan will take off his shoes, and a Christian will keep his shoes on but remove his hat.