Franz Boas

"The passion for seeking the truth for truth's sake...can be kept alive only if we continue to seek the truth for truth's sake."

"Franz Boas Papers at the American Philosophical Society"

"Courtesy, modesty, good manners, conformity to definite ethical standards are universal, but what constitutes courtesy, modesty, good manners, and definite ethical standards is not universal. It is in…"

"Anthropology has reached that point of development where the careful investigation of facts shakes our firm belief in the far-reaching theories that have been built up. The complexity of each phenomen…"

"Eugenics should, therefore, not be allowed to deceive us into the belief that we should try to raise a race of supermen, nor that it should be our aim to eliminate all suffering and pain. The attempt …"

"The behavior of an individual is determined not by his racial affiliation, but by the character of his ancestry and his cultural environment."

"No one has ever proved that a human being, through his descent from a certain group of people, must of necessity have certain mental characteristics."