Victor Turner

Liminality is not a state of being, but a state of becoming.

Communitas breaks in on us, in the midst of our structured lives, with the force of a revelation.

Structure is that which is, communitas that which might be.

Ritual is a transformative performance.

The symbol is the smallest unit of ritual.

Social dramas are the 'raw material' of human social experience.

Performance is a 'doing' that is also a 'showing of a doing'.

The liminal is often a realm of paradox, where the sacred and the profane, the familiar and the unfamiliar, coexist.

Anthropology is the study of human beings in their full complexity.

The human condition is inherently dramatic.

Ritual is not merely a reflection of social structure, but also a means of transforming it.

The symbol is a storehouse of meaning, condensed and polysemic.

Communitas is the very ground of our being, the source of our humanity.

The liminal phase is a period of intense ambiguity and potential.

Culture is a dynamic process, not a static entity.

The study of ritual reveals the deepest values and beliefs of a society.

Social dramas are mechanisms for the resolution of conflict and the restoration of social order.

Performance is a way of knowing and a way of being.

The anti-structure of communitas is not chaos, but a different kind of order.

Symbols are not merely representations, but active forces in the world.