Ruth Benedict
FameRank: 6

"Ruth Fulton Benedict" was an American anthropology/anthropologist and folkloristics/folklorist.

She was born in New York City, attended Vassar College and graduated in 1909. She entered graduate studies at Columbia University in 1919, where she studied under Franz Boas. She received her Doctor of Philosophy/Ph.D and joined the faculty in 1923. Margaret Mead, with whom she may have shared a romantic relationship, and Marvin Opler, were among her students and colleagues.

Franz Boas, her teacher and mentor, has been called the father of American anthropology and his teachings and point of view are clearly evident in Benedict's work. Ruth Benedict was affected by the passionate love of Boas, her mentor, and continued it in her research and writing.

If you enjoy these quotes, be sure to check out other famous scientists! More Ruth Benedict on Wikipedia.

Our faith in the present dies out long before our faith in the future.

The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community.

The trouble is not that we are never happy - it is that happiness is so episodical.

No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking.

The trouble with life isn't that there is no answer, it's that there are so many answers.

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.

The happiest excitement in life is to be convinced that one is fighting for all one is worth on behalf of some clearly seen and deeply felt good.

Culture is not a biologically transmitted complex.

I long to speak out the intense inspiration that comes to me from the lives of strong women.

Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.