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The image a society evolves of the relationship between the living and the dead is, in the final analysis, an attempt, on the level of religious thought, to conceal, embellish or justify the actual relationships which prevail among the living.

— Claude Lévi-Strauss Tristes Tropiques (1955)

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More quotes by Claude Lévi-Strauss

One must be very naïve or dishonest to imagine that men choose their beliefs independently of their situation.

Tristes Tropiques (1955)

Natural man did not precede society, nor is he outside it.

Tristes Tropiques (1955)

These facts make the creator of music a being like the gods, and make music itself the supreme mystery of human knowledge.

Mythologiques I: Le cru et le cuit (1964)

The first thing we see as we travel round the world is our own filth, thrown into the face of mankind.

Tristes Tropiques (1955)

Teaching and research are not to be confused with training for a profession. Their greatness and their misfortune is that they are a refuge or a mission.

Tristes Tropiques (1955)

All Claude Lévi-Strauss quotes →

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