Quotes from William M. Bass

Anthropologists and insects can reveal the truth about a crime, but they can't force the wheels of bureaucracy to turn, and they can't guarantee that justice will be done. All they can do is serve as a voice for victims, and hope that voice is heard.

All you can do is look at the evidence and listen to the bones. The bones don't always tell you the whole story, but when they do, the tale can be both horrifying and hypnotizing.

I certainly didn't set out to create something famous there. I just set out to find some answers to questions that were nagging me. As in life, so in science: One thing leads to another, and before you know it, you find yourself someplace you never imagined going.

The skulls of blacks, for instance, are denser, heavier, and smoother than the skulls of whites; that's one key reason there have been so few outstanding black Olympic swimmers: they have to work harder just to stay afloat. In

Art soaked it in alcohol to toughen it up and draw out the water. (If he'd had the opposite problem—if the skin had been dry and stiff—he'd have soaked it in Downy fabric softener; I'm sure the makers of Downy would be pleased to know that their product makes even mummified human skin soft and fragrant.)

All my life I'd been a believing Christian. ... But that instant in the ER--the instant Annette [his wife] died--I seemed to feel my religious faith die