Margaret Mead

I have always believed that the best way to predict the future is to create it.

The only way to be truly happy is to be truly free.

I have always believed that the best way to solve a problem is to understand it.

The only way to get a man to do something is to make him think it was his idea.

We are all individuals, and we all have a right to be different.

I have always believed that the best way to live is to live in the present.

The only way to make a man happy is to make him think he's in charge.

We are living in a world where the future is so uncertain that it is no longer possible to predict it. We must therefore create it.

Instead of being afraid of the future, we should be excited by it.

The way in which a society organizes the relationship between the sexes is a fundamental determinant of its character.

The assumption that men and women are different is a cultural construct, not a biological fact.

It is utterly false and anathema to the spirit of anthropology to say that there are 'primitive' peoples.

The Samoans, for example, have no word for 'sin.'

Human nature is not a fixed thing, but a product of culture.

The world is a complex place, and we need to understand it in all its complexity.

The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.

We are all part of a larger whole, and we must work together to create a better future.

To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only hope.

The human spirit is indomitable.

We must not allow ourselves to be limited by the past.