James George Frazer > Quotes

“Small minds cannot grasp great ideas; to their narrow comprehension, their purblind vision, nothing seems really great and important but themselves.”
― Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion

“The propensity to excessive simplification is indeed natural to the mind of man, since it is only by abstraction and generalisation, which necessarily imply the neglect of a multitude of particulars, that he can stretch his puny faculties so as to embrace a minute portion of the illimitable vastness of the universe. But if the propensity is natural and even inevitable, it is nevertheless fraught with peril, since it is apt to narrow and falsify our conception of any subject under investigation. To correct it partially - for to correct it wholly would require an infinite intelligence - we must endeavour to broaden our views by taking account of a wide range of facts and possibilities; and when we have done so to the utmost of our power, we must still remember that from the very nature of things our ideas fall immeasurably short of the reality.”
― James George Frazer, The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, Part 1

“By religion, then, I understand a propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and of human life. Thus defined, religion consists of two elements, a theoretical and a practical, namely, a belief in powers higher than man and an attempt to propitiate or please them. Of the two, belief clearly comes first, since we must believe in the existence of a divine being before we can attempt to please him. But unless the belief leads to a corresponding practice, it is not a religion but merely a theology; in the language of St. James, “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” In other words, no man is religious who does not govern his conduct in some measure by the fear or love of God. On the other hand, mere practice, divested of all religious belief, is also not religion. Two men may behave in exactly the same way, and yet one of them may be religious and the other not. If the one acts from the love or fear of God, he is religious; if the other acts from the love or fear of man, he is moral or immoral according as his behaviour comports or conflicts with the general good.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Hence the strong attraction which magic and science alike have exercised on the human mind; hence the powerful stimulus that both have given to the pursuit of knowledge. They lure the weary enquirer, the footsore seeker, on through the wilderness of disappointment in the present by their endless promises of the future: they take him up to the top of an exceeding high mountain and show him, beyond the dark clouds and rolling mists at his feet, a vision of the celestial city, far off, it may be, but radiant with unearthly splendour, bathed in the light of dreams.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Volume 1

“the fear of the human dead, which, on the whole, I believe to have been probably the most powerful force in the making of primitive religion.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“For strength of character in the race as in the individual consists mainly in the power of sacrificing the present for the future, of disregarding the immediate temptations of ephemeral pleasure for more distant and lasting sources of satisfaction. The more the power is exercised the higher and stronger becomes the character; till the height of heroism is reached in men who renounce the pleasures of life and even life itself for the sake of winning for others, perhaps in distant ages, the blessings of freedom and truth.”
― Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study of Myth, Ritual, and Belief Across Cultures

“For myth changes while custom remains constant; men continue to do what their did before them, though the reasons on which their fathers acted have been long forgotten. The history of religion is a long attempt to reconcile old custom with new reason, to find a sound theory for an absurd practice.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“So in Scotland witches used to raise the wind by dipping a rag in water and beating it thrice on a stone, saying: “I knok this rag upone this stane To raise the wind in the divellis name, It sall not lye till I please againe.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“For extending its sway, partly by force of arms, partly by the voluntary submission of weaker tribes, the community soon acquires wealth and slaves, both of which, by relieving some classes from the perpetual struggle for a bare subsistence, afford them an opportunity of devoting themselves to that disinterested pursuit of knowledge which is the noblest and most powerful instrument to ameliorate the lot of man.”
― James George Frazer Sir,, The Golden Bough: a study of magic and religion

“Thus religion, beginning as a slight and partial acknowledgment of powers superior to man, tends with the growth of knowledge to deepen into a confession of man’s entire and absolute dependence on the divine; his old free bearing is exchanged for an attitude of lowliest prostration before the mysterious powers of the unseen, and his highest virtue is to submit his will to theirs: In la sua volontade è nostra pace.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“fear of the human dead, which, on the whole, I believe to have been probably the most powerful force in the making of primitive religion.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“We need new myths, but we need to understand we stand on the old myths. These must be completly understood to be able to create new myths”
― Sir James Frazer

“These hapless lovers were probably not always mere myths, and these legends which traced their spilt blood in the purple bloom of the violet, the scarlet stain of the anemone, or the crimson flush or the rose were no idle poetic emblem of youth and beauty fleeting as the Summer flowers.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough A Study in Magic and Religion: Volume VIII or XII

“For thousands of years ago it was known to the sorcerers of ancient India, Babylon, and Egypt, as well as of Greece and Rome, and at this day it is still resorted to by cunning and malignant savages in Australia, Africa, and Scotland.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough (10 volume set)

“Genel manada daha yüksek kültür düzeyine erişmiş bir toplumda batıl inançların varlığını nasıl sürdürdüğünü sorarsak, bu sorunun yanıtını insanlar arasındaki doğal, evrensel ve yok edilemez eşitsizlikte buluruz. Yalnızca farklı ırklar zeka, cesaret, çalışkanlık ve benzeri hususlarda farklı derecede donatılmamıştır; aynı ırka mensup kişiler de doğuştan gelen kapasiteleri ve nitelikleri bakımından büyük farklılıklar gösterirler. Başka hiçbir öğreti, insanların eşitliği öğretisinden daha yanlış ve asılsız değildir. Kanunları yapanların herkes eşitmiş gibi hareket etmesi doğrudur, çünkü zaruri yasalar geneldir ve sonsuz sayıdaki münferit durumlara uyacak şekilde yapılamazlar. Fakat insanlar yasalar önünde eşit diye özlerinde de eşit olduklarını düşünemeyiz. ... En kıvrak zekaya ve en güçlü karaktere sahip olan insanlar geride kalanlara liderlik eder ve toplumun en azından dış hatlarının içerisinde şekillendiği kalıpları biçimlendirirler. Bu tür insanların sayısı liderlik ettikleri çoğunluğa nispeten daha az olduğu için yönetim gücünün sözde sayısal çoğunluğa verildiği ülkelerde bile toplum esasında aydın bir azınlığın iradesi taradından yönetilir. Aslında her ne kadar gizlemeye çalışsak da, insanoğlunun yönetimi her zaman ve her yerde özünde aristokratiktir. ... Her ne kadar liderlik ediyor gibi görünse de kıt zekalı çoğunluk nihayetinde kıvrak zekalı azınlığı izler. Azınlığın kurtuluşu ve ilerlemenin sırrı budur. Akıl insana nasıl hayvanlar üstünde hakimiyet veriyorsa, üstün insan zekası da daha aşağı olanları yönlendirir. Toplumun gidiş yönünü belirleyenlerin unvan sahibi yöneticiler yani krallar, devlet ya da kanun adamları olduğunu söylemiyorum. İnsanlığın gerçek hükümdarları bilimi ilerleten düşünürlerdir; insan nasıl diğer hayvanlar üzerinde gücüyle değil aklıyla hakimiyet kuruyorsa, insanlar arasında uzun vadede toplumsal güçleri yönlendiren ve kontrol eden bilgidir. ... Zihinsel alandaki varoluş mücadelesi, fiziksel alandaki kadar şiddetli ve ölümcüldür, en sonunda gerçeklik dediğimiz daha iyi düşünceler üstün gelir.”
― James George Frazer

“These hapless livers were probably not always mere myths, and these legends which traced their spilt blood in the purple bloom of the violet, the scarlet stain of the anemone, or the crimson flush or the rose were no idle poetic emblem of youth and beauty fleeting as the Summer flowers.”
― Sir George James Frazer

“A candidate for the priesthood could only succeed to office by slaying the priest, and having slain him, he retained office till he was himself slain by a stronger or a craftier.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Chapter”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Wenn bei den Gallas eine Frau der Haushaltssorgen überdrüssig wird, beginnt sie unzusammenhängende Worte zu reden und sich ungewöhnlich zu betragen. Dies ist ein Zeichen, daß der heilige Geist Callo über sie gekommen ist. Sofort wirft sich ihr Mann vor ihr auf die Erde und betet sie an. Sie führt nicht mehr den bescheidenen Namen „Gattin“, sondern wird „Herr“ genannt. Mit häuslichen Pflichten hat sie nichts mehr zu schaffen, und ihr Wille ist göttliches Gesetz.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: The Roots of Religion and Folklore

“Im Fricktal in der Schweiz gehen die Knaben zu Pfingsten in den Wald und hüllen einen von ihren Gefährten in belaubte Zweige. Er wird der Pfingstlümmel genannt und zu Pferde, mit einem grünen Zweig in der Hand, ins Dorf zurückgeführt. Am Dorfbrunnen wird halt gemacht, und der blättergeschmückte „Lümmel“ wird vom Pferde geholt und in den Trog getaucht. Damit erwirbt er sich das Recht, jedermann mit Wasser zu bespritzen, und er übt dieses Recht besonders an Mädchen und Straßenjungen aus. Die Jungen und Mädchen marschieren in Trupps vor ihm her und bitten ihn, er möchte ihnen eine Pfingstdusche geben.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Nach Ansicht der Kwakiutl-Indianer Britisch Columbiens sind Zwillinge verzauberter Lachs.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Das Stuhlbein, welches an Stelle des Tierbeines behandelt wird, gehört in keiner Weise zu dem Tiere, und das Verbinden dieses Gegenstandes ist nichts weiter als eine Nachahmung der Behandlung, welche eine rationellere Chirurgie dem wirklichen Patienten angedeihen lassen würde.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“THE PRIMARY aim of this book is to explain the remarkable rule which regulated the succession to the priesthood of Diana at Aricia.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“How serious that worship was in former times may be gathered from the ferocious penalty appointed by the old German laws for such as dared to peel the bark of a standing tree. The culprit’s navel was to be cut out and nailed to the part of the tree which he had peeled, and he was to be driven round and round the tree till all his guts were wound about its trunk. The intention of the punishment clearly was to replace the dead bark by a living substitute taken from the culprit; it was a life for a life, the life of a man for the life of a tree.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Man sollte auch hinter den Ofen gehen und sich den Zahn nach rückwärts über den Kopf werfen mit den Worten: „Maus, gib mir deinen eisernen Zahn. Ich werde dir meinen Knochenzahn geben.“ Danach bleiben die übrigen Zähne gesund.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Sie glaubte augenscheinlich, je weniger Kleidung sie trage, desto weniger Hülse werde der Reis haben.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Sie meinten, wenn sie ununterbrochen tanzten, würden ihre Männer im Kampfe nicht ermüden.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Thus the art of the [Egyptuan] magician consisted in obtaining from the gods a revelation of their sacred names, and he left no stone unturned to accomplish his end. When once a god in a moment of weakness or forgetfulness had imparted to the wizard the wondrous lore, the deity had no choice but to submit humbly to the man or pay the penalty of his contumacy.”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

“Dini inanışların kökenini tarihsel açıdan incelemek inançların kendilerini, çürütmek bir yana, geçersiz kılamaz, yine de bu inançlara duyulan güveni, hiç kuşkusuz genellikle yaptığı gibi, sarsabilir. Dini kökenlerin daha detaylı incelenmesinin neticesi olan bu güven zayıflaması, toplum adına çok mühim bir meseledir; çünkü toplum büyük bir ölçüde dini bir temel üzerine inşa edilmiştir ve üst yapıyı tehlikeye atmaksızın bu temelleri sarsmak imkansızdır.”
― James George Frazer, Man, God and Immortality: Thoughts on Human Progress

“legend ascribed to the Tauric Diana is familiar to classical readers;”
― James George Frazer, The Golden Bough