James George Frazer
Born: 01-01-1854
James George Frazer was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist, renowned for his pioneering work, "The Golden Bough," which explores the links between magic, religion, and science. Born in 1854, he studied at the University of Glasgow and Trinity College, Cambridge. Frazer's comparative approach to mythology and culture significantly influenced the fields of anthropology, psychology, and literature, leaving a lasting legacy in the study of human beliefs.
Book summaries for books written by James George Frazer
Quotes
Magic is the bastard sister of science.
The man who believes that the practice of magic will bring him good luck is by no means the fool that he is often thought to be.
The belief in magic and religion is a survival from an earlier stage of human knowledge.
The magician is not a priest, but a seer; he does not propitiate the gods, but compels them.
The magical control of the weather is a popular branch of sorcery.
The theory of sympathetic magic is that like produces like.
The doctrine of signatures is a particular case of the general theory of sympathetic magic.
The magician is a dealer in spiritual contraband.
The magician is in truth a power, but a power that is generated within the mind and acts only on the mind.
The use of images in magic is practically inexhaustible.
Magic and religion are thus of the same essence.
The magician is not a priest, and his functions are not primarily religious but magical.