Claude Lévi-Strauss

Sociology French 1908 – 2009 350 quotes

Father of structural anthropology

Quotes by Claude Lévi-Strauss

The world is a dream, and we are trying to interpret its symbols.

Interview

The human mind is a sculptor, shaping its own reality.

Lecture

Myth is a way of giving meaning to life.

Structural Anthropology

The anthropologist is a storyteller, recounting the tales of humanity.

Lecture

The world is a stage, and we are all actors.

Interview

I am not saying that there are no differences between men, but that these differences are not as important as we have been led to believe.

Race and History

The savage mind is not a primitive mind, but a mind that is organized differently.

The Savage Mind

The anthropologist is a sort of intellectual bricoleur.

The Savage Mind

The function of mythology is to make the world intelligible.

Mythologiques

Man has always been a maker of myths, and he will always be one.

Mythologiques

The ultimate wisdom is to be found in the myths of primitive peoples.

Mythologiques

The anthropologist is a man who tries to understand other men.

Tristes Tropiques

The world is full of meaning, but we often fail to see it.

Tristes Tropiques

The anthropologist is a professional voyeur.

Tristes Tropiques

The human mind is a prisoner of its own categories.

Structural Anthropology

The savage mind is not illogical, but pre-logical.

The Savage Mind

The anthropologist is a man who tries to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange.

Tristes Tropiques

The human mind is a structure, and it is the task of anthropology to reveal that structure.

Structural Anthropology

The world is a text, and it is the task of the anthropologist to read it.

Tristes Tropiques

The anthropologist is a man who tries to understand the world from the point of view of others.

Tristes Tropiques