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From the earliest times man has been engaged in a search for general rules whereby to turn the order of natural phenomena to his own advantage, and in the long search he has scraped together a great hoard of such maxims, some of them golden and some of them mere dross. The true or golden rules constitute the body of applied science which we call the arts; the false are magic.

— James Frazer The Golden Bough (1890)

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More quotes by James Frazer

If mankind had always been logical and wise, history would not be a long chronicle of folly and crime.

The Golden Bough (1890)

The scapegoat upon whom the sins of the people are periodically laid, may also be a human being.

The Golden Bough (1890)

We seem to move on a thin crust which may at any moment be rent by the subterranean forces slumbering below.

The Golden Bough (1890)

The temple of the sylvan goddess, indeed, has vanished, and the King of the Wood no longer stands sentinel over the Golden Bough.

The Golden Bough (1890)

The consideration of human suffering is not one which enters into the calculations of primitive man.

The Golden Bough (1890)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: James Frazer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.