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No one has ever proved that a human being, through his descent from a certain group of people, must of necessity have certain mental characteristics.

— Franz Boas Race and Democratic Society (1945)

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More quotes by Franz Boas

The behavior of an individual is determined not by his racial affiliation, but by the character of his ancestry and his cultural environment.

Race and Democratic Society (1945)

The passion for seeking the truth for truth's sake...can be kept alive only if we continue to seek the truth for truth's sake.

Race and Democratic Society (1945)

Then we shall treasure and cultivate the variety of forms that human thought and activity has taken, and abhor, as leading to complete stagnation, all attempts to impress one pattern of thought upon whole nations or even upon the whole world.

Courtesy, modesty, good manners, conformity to definite ethical standards are universal, but what constitutes courtesy, modesty, good manners, and definite ethical standards is not universal. It is instructive to know that standards differ in the most unexpected ways

Boas (1928)

Anthropology has reached that point of development where the careful investigation of facts shakes our firm belief in the far-reaching theories that have been built up. The complexity of each phenomenon dawns on our minds, and makes us desirous of proceeding more cautiously. Heretofore we have seen the features common to all human thought.

Franz Boas (1975)

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