Bronisław Malinowski

“The magnificent title of the Functional School of Anthropology has been bestowed on myself, in a way on myself, and to a large extent out of my own sense of irresponsibility.”

“Fieldwork is the sine qua non of all good anthropology.”

“Magic is to be expected and generally to be found whenever man comes to an unbridgeable gap, a hiatus in his knowledge or in his powers of practical control, and yet has to continue in his pursuit.”

“To the native, magic is a practical art... an indispensable ingredient of all important activities.”

“Every myth... is a justification by precedent; it is a statement of a primordial, greater, and more relevant reality, by which the present life, fates, and activities of mankind are determined.”

“A custom is not a mere collection of acts. It is an organized system of behavior with a purpose.”

“The 'savage' is not a creature of untamed and unbridled passions.”

“Language is primarily a mode of action, rather than a countersign of thought.”

“Religion, in its essence, is the affirmation of life.”

“Myth is not merely a story told but a reality lived.”

“The family... is the institution which produces and reproduces culture.”

“The study of man is the most difficult of all sciences.”

“The final goal, of which an ethnographer should never lose sight... is, briefly, to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realise his vision of his world.”