Culture

"Aleksander Gej points out that the Novotitarovskaja culture certainly liked its wagons, indeed, the number of graves with wagons increased exponentially relative to the Maikop culture from a handful to several hundred. This culture nevertheless pro- duced the same model of 4-wheeled vehicle until the Catacomb Grave culture of the 2nd millennium BCE, with Gej pointing out that there was no evidence for a steering mechanism even at this late stage. This seems to me to be a fatal flaw in Anthony’s theory, since, as Burmeister points out, an unsteerable wagon would have been confined to a steppe envi- ronment. As soon as it attempted to expand into a densely forested area, it would have collided with the nearest tree. Anthony’s steppe dwellers may thus have had plenty of wagons, but none of them were fit for the grand purpose of spreading Indo-European languages and instead were probably popular more as mobile homes suitable only for the Steppe itself... The above suggests that his bronze age riders only shaped the modern world in that they were the ancestors of the trailer park, johnny-come-latelys to a Eurasia through which key vehicle and other technologies had already disseminated for the simple reason that it had already been networked to lesser or greater degrees for millennia."

"Only at the end of the 4th millennium BCE did the wagon of the pre-Caucasian Steppe enter the burial practices of the Yamnaya and the Novotitarovskaya cultures."

"The idea of the war chariot originating on the steppes has recently been revived, chiefly on the basis of the calibrated radiocarbon dates from Sintashta and Krivoe Ozero... The present reconstructions of the Sintashta and Krivoe Ozero vehicles above the axle level raise many doubts and questions, but one cannot argue about something for which there is no evidence.It is from the wheel-track measurements and the dimensions and positions of the wheels alone that we may legitimately draw conclusions and these are alone sufficient to establish that the Sintashta-Petrovka vehicles would not be manoeuvrable enough for use either in warfare or in racing."

"Westward the course of empire takes its way; The first four acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day: Time’s noblest offspring is the last."

"The West is a series of institutions and values. The West is not a geographical place. Russia is European, but not Western. Japan is Western, but not European. ‘Western’ means rule of law, democracy, private property, open markets, respect for the individual, diversity, pluralism of opinion, and all the other freedoms that we enjoy, which we sometimes take for granted. We sometimes forget where they came from. But that’s what the West is."

"Heraldry has been styled 'the science of fools with long memories.’ That its true objects have been misunderstood, and that its reputation has been seriously damaged by injudicious writers in attempting to attach fanciful interpretations to devices and tinctures, there can be no question; but, as the noble science has existed from time immemorial, so must it continue to flourish as long as the pride of ancestry forms any part of the nature of man. Indeed, in the present day, the education of no gentleman can be considered complete unless he possess at least an elementary knowledge of Heraldry."

"Assimilationist politics, ... according to its critics, looks to expand the definition of normal to include lesbians and gays, rather than attacking and undermining the very processes by which (some) subjects become normalized and others marginalized."

"Arguments for inclusion produce the very exclusions they are meant to cure. ... The question that cannot be uttered is, just how different can these different folks be and still be recognized as just like everyone else?"

"Americans of every race and color have died in battle to protect our freedom. Americans of every race and color have worked to build a nation of widening opportunities. Now our generation of Americans has been called on to continue the unending search for justice within our own borders. We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment. We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights. Yet many Americans do not enjoy those rights. We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings--not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin. The reasons are deeply embedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can understand--without rancor or hatred--how this all happened. But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it."

"At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace the savage races throughout the world."

"My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a negro, and my great-grandfather was an ape; my pedigree began where yours left off."

"Races and varieties of the human family appear and disappear, but humanity remains and will remain forever... [P]eople will one day be truer to this idea than now, and will say with Scotia's inspired son, ‍'‍A man's a man for a’ that.‍'‍ When that day shall come, they will not pervert and sin against the verity of language as they now do by calling a man of mixed blood, a negro; they will tell the truth... It is only prejudice against the negro which calls every one, however nearly connected with the white race, and however remotely connected with the negro race, a negro. The motive is not a desire to elevate the negro, but to humiliate and degrade those of mixed blood; not a desire to bring the negro up, but to cast the mulatto and the quadroon down by forcing him below an arbitrary and hated color line."

"Racial classification is totally cultural. Who's Tiger Woods? Who's Colin Powell? Colin Powell's as Irish as he is African. Being black has been defined as just looking dark enough that anyone can see you are."

"I have received the favor of your letter of August 17th, and with it the volume you were so kind as to send me on the Literature of Negroes. Be assured that no person living wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myself entertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted to them by nature, and to find that in this respect they are on a par with ourselves. My doubts were the result of personal observation on the limited sphere of my own State, where the opportunities for the development of their genius were not favorable, and those of exercising it still less so. I expressed them therefore with great hesitation; but whatever be their degree of talent it is no measure of their rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others in understanding, he was not therefore lord of the person or property of others. On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions of nations, and hopeful advances are making towards their reestablishment on an equal footing with the other colors of the human family. I pray you therefore to accept my thanks for the many instances you have enabled me to observe of respectable intelligence in that race of men, which cannot fail to have effect in hastening the day of their relief."

"No ally is better than one's own race."

"I prefer not to use the term race, for race is a thing much more obscure and difficult to determine than is usually imagined. In dealing with it the trenchant distinctions current in the popular mind are wholly out of place."

"If we are to have that harmony and tranquility, that union of spirit which is the foundation of real national genius and national progress, we must all realize that there are true Americans who did not happen to be born in our section of the country, who do not attend our place of religious worship, who are not of our racial stock, or who are not proficient in our language. If we are to create on this continent a free republic and an enlightened civilization that will be capable of reflecting the true greatness and glory of mankind, it will be necessary to regard these differences as accidental and unessential. We shall have to look beyond the outward manifestations of race and creed. Divine providence has not bestowed upon any race a monopoly of patriotism and character. The same principle that it is necessary to apply to the attitude of mind among our own people it is also necessary to apply to the attitude of mind among the different nations."

"I have no race prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse."

"The emotions between the races could never be pure; even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing in ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart."

"The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!"

"[L]et us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man; this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position; discarding our standard that we have left us. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal."

"Am I not a man and a brother?"

"The darkness of her Oriental eye Accorded with her Moorish origin (Her blood was not all Spanish, by the by; In Spain, you know, this is a sort of sin)."

"Fleecy locks and black complexion Cannot forfeit nature’s claim; Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in white and black the same."

"It may be doubted whether any character can be named which is distinctive of a race and is constant."

"All races and varieties of men are improvable. This is the grand distinguishing attribute of humanity, and separates man from all other animals. If it could be shown that any particular race of men are literally incapable of improvement, we might hesitate to welcome them here. But no such men are anywhere to be found, and if they were, it is not likely that they would ever trouble us with their presence. ... I know of no rights of race superior to the rights of humanity, and when there is a supposed conflict between human and national rights, it is safe to go the side of humanity."

"An ingenious anatomist has written a book to prove that races are imperishable, but nations are pliant political constructions, easily changed or destroyed."

"[R]ace is not based on biology but race is rather an idea that we ascribe to biology... The biology becomes an excuse for social differences. The social differences become naturalized in biology."

"Race is a concept that was invented to categorize the perceived biological, social, and cultural differences between human groups... Race is a human invention. We created it, we have used it in ways that have been in many, many respects quite negative and quite harmful. And we can think ourselves out of it. We made it, we can unmake it."

"The biological fact of race and the myth of "race" should be distinguished. For all practical social purposes "race" is not so much a biological phenomenon as a social myth. The myth "race" has created an enormous amount of human and social damage. In recent years it has taken a heavy toll in human lives and caused untold suffering. It still prevents the normal development of millions of human beings and deprives civilization of the effective co-operation of productive minds. The biological differences between ethnic groups should be disregarded from the standpoint of social acceptance and social action. The unity of mankind from both the biological and social viewpoint is the main thing. To recognize this and to act accordingly is the first requirement of modern man."

"We have seen the mere distinction of color made, in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man."

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!"

"The law of nations knows of no distinction of color, and if an enemy of the United States should enslave and sell any captured persons of their army, it would be a case for the severest retaliation, if not redressed upon complaint."

"There are no races, there are only clines."

"The omelet called “race” has no existence outside the statistical frying- pan in which it has been reduced by the heat of the anthropological imagination."

"Racial differences will fade away in the New World. Speak not of races. The drops of different seas are alike."

"I believe in recognizing every human being as a human being, neither white, black, brown nor red. When you are dealing with humanity as one family, there's no question of integration or intermarriage. It's just one human being marrying another human being, or one human being living around and with another human being."

"Tusa (1977) believes that "the so-called 'grave culture' is not in fact due to a sudden interruption in the life of the valley but to an appreciable, substantial change perhaps due to new contributions that are nevertheless in line with the cultural traditions of the previous period." He echoes objections that have been raised so many times by South Asian archaeologists: "The existence of contributions from the outside, for too long used to justify cultural change in the sub-Himalayan area, has in my opinion been exaggerated even though it could conceivably have been a factor in cultural change without being the only one" (690). As far as he is concerned, "to attribute a historical value to . . . the slender links with northwestern Iran and northern Afghanistan . . . is a mistake "because . . ." it could well be the spread of particular objects and, as such, objects that could circulate more easily quite apart from any real contacts" (691-692)."

"I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world."

"The oral tradition is vital; it heals itself and the tribal web by adapting to the flow of the present while never relinquishing its connection to the past. Its adaptability has always been required, as many generations have experienced."

"The oral tradition is a living body. It is in continuous flux, which enables it to accommodate itself to the real circumstances of a people’s lives."

"The oral tradition is more than a record of a people’s culture. It is the creative source of their collective and individual selves."

"In the Mahabharata, the ceremony for the oath of a new king includes the admonition: 'Be like a garland-maker, O king, and not like a charcoal burner.' The garland symbolizes social coherence; it is a metaphor for dharmic diversity in which flowers of many colors and forms are strung harmoniously for the most pleasing effect. In contrast, the charcoal burner is a metaphor for the brute-force reduction of diversity into homogeneity, where diverse living substances are transformed into uniformly lifeless ashes."

"Mr. Rockefeller was not a man to be hurried into precipitate action. Careful study and long deliberation were for him invariably prerequisite to any move in an unknown field. It was two years before the idea was sufficiently matured in his mind to enable him to go forward, and during this period there were many conferences between him and Mr. Gates. On June 29, 1909, he signed a deed of trust, turning over to three trustees—his son; Harold McCormick; and Mr. Gates—72,569 shares of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, valued at $50,000,000, the trust to be known as the "Rockefeller Foundation.""

"The offices of the Rockefeller Foundation were in the RCA builing on West 50th Street, fifty-fourth floor, and from there they had their public health and research empire all over the world, where they had considerable weight in various countries. It was interesting. It served a very useful purpose, I think. The foundation never got full credit, in my estimate, for all the things it did for mankind. It didn't want it. It always kept a low visibility. But they did some wonderful things, especially in malaria and hookworm in the south—that's how they started, working on hookworm—and then they went into malaria, which was and still is a great problem."

"Innovation is being able to tell the same story in a manner that it has never been told before. It’s finding new ways to capture the hearts and minds of your customers through the right tools, technology or a simple gesture that turns a customer into a fan."

"Local Futures works to renew ecological, social, and spiritual well-being by promoting a systemic shift towards economic localization. A pioneer of the new economy movement, Local Futures has been raising awareness for four decades about the need to shift direction – away from dependence on global monopolies, and towards decentralized, regional economies."

"These programs are helping to catalyze a global movement for systemic change. Recognition of the importance of local economies is at an all-time high. Through our events and resources, we promote a holistic view of what it will take to heal the damage caused by the corporate-run economy and build structures that foster human and ecological wellbeing."

"Local Futures has been involved with cultural, economic and ecological issues for more than four decades now, and we are proud of our accomplishments. What follows is far from comprehensive, but gives an idea of the depth and breadth of our work. Our organization has always been ahead of its time... we were warning about the dangers of both biotechnology and so-called “free trade” (and the link between them) three decades ago, while at the same time pioneering the localization movement – the local food movement, in particular. It is very gratifying to see that these issues are finally beginning to receive the attention they deserve"

"At present, in consequence of the existence of private property, a great many people are enabled to develop a certain very limited amount of Individualism. They are either under no necessity to work for their living, or are enabled to choose the sphere of activity that is really congenial to them, and gives them pleasure. These are the poets, the philosophers, the men of science, the men of culture – in a word, the real men, the men who have realised themselves, and in whom all Humanity gains a partial realisation. Upon the other hand, there are a great many people who, having no private property of their own, and being always on the brink of sheer starvation, are compelled to do the work of beasts of burden, to do work that is quite uncongenial to them, and to which they are forced by the peremptory, unreasonable, degrading Tyranny of want."