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"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

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Added a citation for the reference to this quote in The West Wing. However I cannot find any definite attribution of the quote to Mead. This recollection is the closest, but seems to be a recollection of an oral statement: "One of my teachers at LSE, Margaret Mead, told me and my classmates to 'never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.' I have remained inspired by her words." Firoz Lalji (BSc Economics 1969), LSE Benefactor. http://www.lse.ac.uk/supporting-lse/where-you-can-help/thought-leadership. Tacyarg (talk) 21:00, 29 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Margaret Mead never worked at LSE and likely never said that anywhere. Rupert the Frog (talk) 08:40, 10 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I've removed it, not just because she indeed doesn't seem to have worked at LSE but because of the comments at Wikiquote[1] which I'll copy below:
  • Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
    • Attributed in Curing Nuclear Madness (1984) by Frank G. Sommers and Tana Dineen, p. 158; also in And I Quote: The Definitive Collection of Quotes, Sayings, and Jokes for the Contemporary Speechmaker (1992), edited by Ashton Applewhite, Tripp Evans, and Andrew Frothingham. No contemporaneous source is known. Ralph Keyes, in the introduction to The Quote Verifier (2006), p. xvi, gives this as an example of situations where derivative sources merely cite each other and no one knows the original source.
    • Variants:
      Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
      Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.
      A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
      Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does.
      Never doubt that a thoughtful, committed individual can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Doug Weller talk 16:52, 10 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

But all of her fake material (possibly fabricated by others) is still a "contribution" of sorts. I suggest putting back in the quote uses, but maybe pointing out it's fake. Rupert the Frog (talk) 17:06, 10 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The FAQ on Mead's Institute for Intercultural Studies website (http://www.interculturalstudies.org/faq.html#quote) notes that the quote, while unsourced, is trademarked in part by her granddaughter. Chadthomasgreen (talk) 16:11, 24 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

So, her granddaughter is a fraud, too! It's a grand family tradition. 2603:7000:B23E:33EE:E0FC:1318:903:C379 (talk) 01:44, 16 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Extremely dubious paragraph about biologically determined culture.

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This whole paragraph is extremely dubious. It is extremely broad, and seems to be arguing the ridiculous idea that there's anthropologists who think culture is biological determined.

"While nurture-oriented anthropologists are more inclined to agree with Mead's conclusions, there are other non-anthropologists who take a nature-oriented approach following Freeman's lead, such as Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, biologist Richard Dawkins, evolutionary psychologist David Buss, science writer Matt Ridley, classicist Mary Lefkowitz,[page needed]."

There was a citation to Singer, and I looked up the citation and the citation did not say what was claimed. Singer was actually saying that ideological blinkers were making people ignore evidence about the issue entirely. CrickedBack (talk) 08:10, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The redirect Something of Samoa has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 January 14 § Something of Samoa until a consensus is reached. ―Justin (koavf)TCM 13:10, 14 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Pronunciation

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Can pronunciation of her surname be added please. I imagine this is obvious to native English speakers but we EFL learners are at a loss. Mateno (talk) 19:52, 5 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]