Richard B. Lee > Quotes

“Death is inevitable. But the meaning people attach to death, its causes and aftermath, is culturally given. Without meaning, without culture making sense of things, life would be impossible.”
― Richard B. Lee, The Dobe Ju/'Hoansi

“There are no totally generous acts. All "acts" have an element of calculation. One black ox slaughtered on Christmas does not wipe out a year of careful manipulation of gifts given to serve your own ends. After all, to kill an animal and share the meat with people is really no more than Ju/'hoansi do for each other every day and with far less fan fare.”
― Richard B. Lee, The Dobe Ju/'Hoansi

“Finally, we thank the San people themselves for their unfailing hospitality (after their own fashion) toward more than a dozen researchers over as many years. We have all come to appreciate their cheerfulness in the face of adversity, their peculiar sense of humor, and their fierce egalitarianism.”
― Richard B. Lee

“But,” I asked, “ why insult a man after he has gone to all that trouble to track and kill an animal and when he is going to share the meat with you so that your children will have something to eat?”
“Arrogance,” was his cryptic answer.
“Arrogance?”
“Yes, when a young man kills much meat, he comes to think of himself as a chief or a big man, and he thinks of the rest of us as his servants or inferiors. We can’t accept this. We refuse one who boasts, for someday his pride will make him kill somebody. So we always speak of his meat as worthless. This way we cool his heart and make him gentle.”
― Richard B. Lee