The adequate study of culture, our own and those on the opposite side of the globe, can press on to fulfillment only as we learn today from the humanities as well as from the scientists.
Ruth BenedictA man's indebtedness is not virtue; his repayment is. Virtue begins when he dedicates himself actively to the job of gratitude.
Ruth BenedictWestern civilization, because of fortuitous historical circumstances, has spread itself more widely than any other local group that has so far been known.
Ruth BenedictIt is my necessary breath of life to understand and expression is the only justification of life that I can feel without prodding.
Ruth BenedictThe psychological consequences of this spread of white culture have been out of all proportion to the materialistic. This world-wide cultural diffusion has protected us as man had never been protected before from having to take seriously the civilizations of other peoples; it has given to our culture a massive universality that we have long ceased to account for historically, and which we read off rather as necessary and inevitable.
Ruth Benedict