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

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.

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.

The value of something is not only decided by the price you are willing to pay for it. It is also influenced by its rarity.

Mother Teresa would seek no other pulpit than the hovels of the poor, and no other sermon than her works of love, performed for the unloved, in God's name.

Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.

The writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master - something that, at times, strangely wills and works for itself.

If we can continue to win, hopefully they can falter a little down the stretch.

I find it hard to imagine that future historians will see the Iraq War as a big plus in Bush's ledger, but we have to admit that we simply don't know for sure.

The congressman sends out a tremendous subpoena, they want to see the e-mails, and they delete the e-mails. I can't think of anything, in terms of we're talking about, much more serious than that.

If you still have to ask, shame on you

Bullfighters are Seville's heroes.

I would sometimes sit in a crowded restaurant, and say, 'You know, I'm the only person in this restaurant who can't draw.'