A man's indebtedness is not virtue; his repayment is. Virtue begins when he dedicates himself actively to the job of gratitude.
Ruth Benedict

Culture is not a biologically transmitted complex.
Ruth Benedict

I gambled on having the strength to live two lives, one for myself and one for the world.
Ruth Benedict

I have always used the world of make-believe with a certain desperation.
Ruth Benedict

I haven't strength of mind not to need a career.
Ruth Benedict

I long to speak out the intense inspiration that comes to me from the lives of strong women.
Ruth Benedict

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

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

Our faith in the present dies out long before our faith in the future.
Ruth Benedict

Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.
Ruth Benedict

The adequate study of culture, our own and those on the opposite side of the globe, can press on to fulfillment only as we learn today from the humanities as well as from the scientists.
Ruth Benedict

The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community.
Ruth Benedict

The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.
Ruth Benedict

The trouble with life isn't that there is no answer, it's that there are so many answers.
Ruth Benedict

We grow in time to trust the future for our answers.
Ruth Benedict