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

A complex society is not necessarily more advanced than a simple one; it has just adapted to conditions in a more complicated way.

Gestures and facial expressions do indeed communicate, as anyone can prove by turning off the sound on a television set and asking watchers to characterize the speakers from the picture alone.

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

Despite the theories traditionally taught in high-school social studies, the truth is: the more primitive the society, the more leisured its way of life.

An inability to communicate has little to do with international friction-as is seen in the special ferocity of wars fought between people who speak the same language.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Perhaps she would never really know him. A year and a half ago that though would have been unbearable to her, but now she had learnt to live with uncertainty, even to love it.

The past is not dead. Indeed, it is often not even past.

The situation was different in the jungle. Every inch of ground had to be earned, and was done so through much exertion with the blade.

With a library it is easier to hope for serendipity than to look for a precise answer.

If there's a gun on the wall in act one, scene one, you must fire the gun by act three, scene two. If you fire a gun in act three, scene two, you must see the gun on the wall in act one, scene one.

The final battle against intolerance is to be fought - not in the chambers of any legislature - but in the hearts of men.

He that gives all, though but little, gives much; because God looks not to the quantity of the gift, but to the quality of the givers.

It is in recognizing the actual presence of God that we find prayer no longer a chore, but a supreme delight.

Often in television, you read a script and you're amazed that you get the scene given to you.

He who meanly admires mean things is a Snob.