I don't see how you can write anything of value if you don't offend someone.

~ Marvin Harris

Marvin Harris Art Controversy Value Writing

In view of the frequent occurrence of modern domestic groups that do not consist of, or contain, an exclusive pair-bonded father and mother, I cannot see why anyone should insist that our ancestors were reared in monogamous nuclear families and that pair-bonding is more natural than other arrangements.

~ Marvin Harris

Marvin Harris Ancestors Families Family Family Relationships Monogamous Monogamy Nuclear Families Pair Bond

Hindus and Westerners alike see in the meat-eating taboos of India a triumph of morals over appetite. This is a dangerous misrepresentation of cultural processes. Hindu vegetarianism was a victory not of spirit over matter but of reproductive over productive forces.

~ Marvin Harris

Marvin Harris Culture Hindu Meat Morals Vegetarianism

In many ways the rise of the state was the descent of the world from freedom to slavery

~ Marvin Harris

Marvin Harris Freedom Slavery State

Here you do have forests, where pigs could be raised by letting them root about in the forests for a good part of the year. Therefore, you have a different attitude toward them compared with what continues to exist in the Middle East.

~ Marvin Harris

Marvin Harris Good You Here