Quotes by James George Frazer

“Hence the strong attraction which magic and science alike have exercised on the human mind; hence the powerful stimulus that both have given to the pursuit of knowledge. They lure the weary enquirer, the footsore seeker, on through the wilderness of disappointment in the present by their endless promises of the future: they take him up to the top of an exceeding high mountain and show him, beyond the dark clouds and rolling mists at his feet, a vision of the celestial city, far off, it may be, but radiant with unearthly splendour, bathed in the light of dreams.””

“For strength of character in the race as in the individual consists mainly in the power of sacrificing the present for the future, of disregarding the immediate temptations of ephemeral pleasure for more distant and lasting sources of satisfaction. The more the power is exercised the higher and stronger becomes the character; till the height of heroism is reached in men who renounce the pleasures of life and even life itself for the sake of winning for others, perhaps in distant ages, the blessings of freedom and truth.””

“the fear of the human dead, which, on the whole, I believe to have been probably the most powerful force in the making of primitive religion.””

“For myth changes while custom remains constant; men continue to do what their did before them, though the reasons on which their fathers acted have been long forgotten. The history of religion is a long attempt to reconcile old custom with new reason, to find a sound theory for an absurd practice.””

“So in Scotland witches used to raise the wind by dipping a rag in water and beating it thrice on a stone, saying: “I knok this rag upone this stane To raise the wind in the divellis name, It sall not lye till I please againe.””

“For extending its sway, partly by force of arms, partly by the voluntary submission of weaker tribes, the community soon acquires wealth and slaves, both of which, by relieving some classes from the perpetual struggle for a bare subsistence, afford them an opportunity of devoting themselves to that disinterested pursuit of knowledge which is the noblest and most powerful instrument to ameliorate the lot of man.””

“Thus religion, beginning as a slight and partial acknowledgment of powers superior to man, tends with the growth of knowledge to deepen into a confession of man’s entire and absolute dependence on the divine; his old free bearing is exchanged for an attitude of lowliest prostration before the mysterious powers of the unseen, and his highest virtue is to submit his will to theirs: In la sua volontade è nostra pace.””

“fear of the human dead, which, on the whole, I believe to have been probably the most powerful force in the making of primitive religion.””

“These hapless livers were probably not always mere myths, and these legends which traced their spilt blood in the purple bloom of the violet, the scarlet stain of the anemone, or the crimson flush or the rose were no idle poetic emblem of youth and beauty fleeting as the Summer flowers.””

“These hapless lovers were probably not always mere myths, and these legends which traced their spilt blood in the purple bloom of the violet, the scarlet stain of the anemone, or the crimson flush or the rose were no idle poetic emblem of youth and beauty fleeting as the Summer flowers.””

“legend ascribed to the Tauric Diana is familiar to classical readers;””

“(Man) fancied that by masquerading in leaves and flowers he helped the bare earth to clothe herself with verdure, and that by playing the death and burial of winter he drove that gloomy season away, and made smooth the path for the footsteps of returning spring. We may smile at his vain endeavours if we please, but it was only by making a long series of experiments, of which some were almost inevitably doomed to failure, that mane learned from experience the futility of some of his attempted methods and the fruitfulness of others. After all, magical ceremonies are nothing but experiments which have failed and which continue to be repeated merely because the operator is unaware of their failure.””

“Wenn bei den Gallas eine Frau der Haushaltssorgen überdrüssig wird, beginnt sie unzusammenhängende Worte zu reden und sich ungewöhnlich zu betragen. Dies ist ein Zeichen, daß der heilige Geist Callo über sie gekommen ist. Sofort wirft sich ihr Mann vor ihr auf die Erde und betet sie an. Sie führt nicht mehr den bescheidenen Namen „Gattin“, sondern wird „Herr“ genannt. Mit häuslichen Pflichten hat sie nichts mehr zu schaffen, und ihr Wille ist göttliches Gesetz.””

“Im Fricktal in der Schweiz gehen die Knaben zu Pfingsten in den Wald und hüllen einen von ihren Gefährten in belaubte Zweige. Er wird der Pfingstlümmel genannt und zu Pferde, mit einem grünen Zweig in der Hand, ins Dorf zurückgeführt. Am Dorfbrunnen wird halt gemacht, und der blättergeschmückte „Lümmel“ wird vom Pferde geholt und in den Trog getaucht. Damit erwirbt er sich das Recht, jedermann mit Wasser zu bespritzen, und er übt dieses Recht besonders an Mädchen und Straßenjungen aus. Die Jungen und Mädchen marschieren in Trupps vor ihm her und bitten ihn, er möchte ihnen eine Pfingstdusche geben.””