Anthropologists and Other Scientist Quotes

Anthropologist Matt Cartmill describes his underlying principles on becoming a scientist, even if it didn't quite work out the way he wanted it to.

the impact of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in Iceland in March 2010 had a jarring effect on all of us, say Lund and Benediktsson in this quotation from Anthropology Today.

In 1997, I interviewed Cherokee historian Steve Russell on the history of the repatriation movement. Here's a pithy comment of his on the underlying purpose of the movement.

The historian Clarice Stasz Stoll is credited with this observation about how women are left out of the discussion.

In a 2004 article in History Today, writer Anubha Charan discusses the logic of destroying a building to correct a wrong that might have occurred half a millennium ago.

A quotation from biogeochemist William Schlesinger on what hinders global stewardship.

This quotation is from a 2008 article in the journal Daedalus by biologist Camille Parmesan called "Where the wild things were", and while it is not strictly speaking about archaeology, it does speak to something archaeologists and everybody else should be concerned about.

Anthropologist Susan Crate discusses the role of anthropology in advocating for climate change's effects on indigenous communities

Philosopher Loren Eiseley (1907-1977) was a wonderful writer of natural and cultural matters. Here's a quotation from his book The Night Country

This quotation is from a 2008 article in the journal Daedalus by biologist Camille Parmesan called "Where the wild things were", and while it is not strictly speaking about archaeology, it does speak to something archaeologists and everybody else should be concerned about.

At the Ignoble Awards for 2007, historian Jill Lepore defined history in seven words.

Anthropologist Kenneth Weiss describes some of the lessons from the 1922 Scopes trial.

In a February 9, 2007 issue of Science magazine, Kristin Lord and Vaughn Turekian propose that scientists take a more active role in diplomacy.

From John E. E. Dalberg, Lord Acton, in his adress to the Members of the Bridgnorth Institute, Frebruary 26, 1877, entitled The History of Freedom in Antiquity.

An archaeology-related quote from a 1996 article by geographer/economist Keith Bassett in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, entitled Postmodernism and the crisis of the intellectual.

Charles Austin Beard was a remarkable historian with a witty turn of phrase. This attributed quote is said to have been in response to a request for a book on the lessons of history.

A 1933 quote from historian Charles Austin Beard seems to suggest a source for Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy and his hero Hari Seldon.

Anthropologist Ruth Benedict on why she believes the study of anthropology is a useful one.

French philosopher Henri Bergson wrote the book Creative Evolution, and that is where this pithy comment on the relationship between the past and present can be found.

Historian and philosopher Edward Bruner considers the modern day implications of tourism.

Neuroscientist William Calvin describes the explosion of modernity in human beings, from this 2004 article in Natural History.

A quote from historian Edward Hallet Carr's 1961 book, What Is History?

British author and critic Cyril Connolly's mot on the past.

Clarence Darrow was a terrific lawyer with an outlook for what great changes were made by the rebels in us.

This quote was taken from an 1861 letter from Charles Darwin to Harry Fawcett; and it shows how the (r)evolutionary scholar contemplated his findings

Geographer Robert Dodgshon comments on our sense of the past

Witty geographers Marcus A. Doel and David B. Clarke comment on the ennui brought on by the post-modern generation.

The importance of Will and Ariel Durant as influential American historians and philosophers has probably been understated. Here is a witty quip from The Story of Philosophy (1926).

A quotation atributed to the beloved American historian Will Durant on the importance of keeping your own counsel.

Physicist Albert Einstein was surely one of our most important philosophers--not such an odd combination, by his lights.

This quote comes from historian Donna Gabaccia's 1999 article in the Journal of American History, "Is everywhere nowhere? Nomads, nations, and the immigrant paradigm of United States history."

Geographer Michael Goodchild comments on esoteric academic studies.

Stephen Jay Gould is one of the most accessible scientists on the planet; and a very good one indeed.

Stephen Jay Gould comments on the difference between science and religion in a quote from a 1999 essay in Skeptical Inquirer.

Biologist and philosopher Paul Grobstein believes that science can progress, but only if we place less value on being right.

Playwright L. P. Hartley describes where he thinks the past is.

Political scientist Jennifer Hochschild muses on what makes a science, even a social science, a real gain in knowledge and insight.

From poet and essayist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s book Elsie Venner, a quote blasting the Spanish inquisition.

The British author of Brave New World exhibits a deep affinity for the seductions of science.

Thomas Huxley was known as Darwin's bulldog; this quotation is said to have come from a confrontation over evolution between Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford.

Hypatia of Alexandria was a mathematician and the last scholar to lead the universities in the city of Alexandria before they burned along with the library in the 5th century AD.

This is a 1929 quote from the then-dean of St. Paul's, William Ralph Inge, on why being an historian is such a great job.

American poet Randall Jarrell had some pithy words about war and questioning

Anthropologist A. L. Kroeber is known for many things, including this observation from his choice of careers.

Anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss weighs in on the immense riches of the human race, from Tristes Tropiques.

A quote from the Italian playwright Tommaso Marinetti

Nihilist Friedrich Nietzsche comments on the ancient pain of human history.

The abolitionist and orator Wendell Phillips was an eloquent speaker, and knew what words could do.

In the late 1990s, the first public discussion of open source publishing was held in the September Forum of the American Scienctist.

Astronomer Carl Sagan was a great populizer of science, for which we should be truly grateful. Here's his lament about ancient disasters.

A quote from historian Simon Schama on what it likes to be a historian, quote 57 in the archaeology quote collection.

Historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. made these remarks on history in the New York Times magazine.

Anthropologist Moishe Shokeid discusses the struggle between the anthropologist and the people she or he talks to.

A quote from neuroscientist Maxine Singer, president of the Carnegie Institute, on what thread holds the sciences together.

Biologist J. William Schopf is credited with this succinct put down to the pride of nations.

From the skeptical Gerald t'Hooft, a comment on why scientists don't take paranormal phenomena more seriously.

British historian A. J. Toynbee was the author of the massive A Study of History, and was well aware of the uses it can be put to.

British Conservative politician George Walden commented on the vision granted by history.

Historian and writer Anthony F. C. Wallace made this observation about the slipperiness of time in an interview for Ethnohistory.

British author Mary Webb muses on precious infinites.

This is one of my favorite quotes from anybody at any given time; from philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead.

This quotation is attributed to historian and author Ronald Wright.