WIST

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

Ruth Benedict (1887-1947) American anthropologist
An Anthropologist at Work, Journal (1912-1916), [ed. Margaret Mead] (1959)
Full text.

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.

Ruth Benedict (1887-1947) American anthropologist
Patterns of Culture, I (1934)

If we justify war, it is because all peoples always justify the traits of which they find themselves possessed, not because war will bear an objective examination of its merits.

Ruth Benedict (1887-1947) American anthropologist
Patterns of Culture, I (1934)

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, and against some greatly scorned evil.

Ruth Benedict (1887-1947) American anthropologist
Journal, undated (1915-1934)