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.

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.

The dictionary is a closed system in which someone interested in the meaning of a word can go around and around and end up exactly where he started, simply because words are defined in terms of other words, and these, in turn, are defined in terms of still other words.

Language does not stand still. Surprisingly, despite this knowledge, most speakers are fearful of change.

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

Marriage is simply an economic necessity, and so there are no elaborate courtship displays or marriage celebrations among the Eskimo.

Food to a large extent is what holds a society together, and eating is closely linked to deep spiritual experiences.