It is to the Riddle of the Sphinx that I have devoted fifty years of professional life as an anthropologist.

Quote by Gregory Bateson

Topics: Gregory Bateson Quotes

Official education was telling people almost nothing of the nature of all those things on...

Official education was telling people almost nothing of the nature of all those things on...

If a man achieves or suffers change in premises which are deeply embedded in his...

If a man achieves or suffers change in premises which are deeply embedded in his...

It is of first-class importance that our answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx should...

It is of first-class importance that our answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx should...

All experience is subjective.

All experience is subjective.

Members of weakly religious families get, of course, no religious training from any source outside...

Members of weakly religious families get, of course, no religious training from any source outside...

A major difficulty is that the answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx is partly...

A major difficulty is that the answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx is partly...

But epistemology is always and inevitably personal. The point of the probe is always in...

But epistemology is always and inevitably personal. The point of the probe is always in...

Interesting phenomena occur when two or more rhythmic patterns are combined, and these phenomena illustrate...

Interesting phenomena occur when two or more rhythmic patterns are combined, and these phenomena illustrate...

To think straight, it is advisable to expect all qualities and attributes, adjectives, and so...

To think straight, it is advisable to expect all qualities and attributes, adjectives, and so...

Synaptic summation is the technical term used in neurophysiology for those instances in which some...

Synaptic summation is the technical term used in neurophysiology for those instances in which some...

Number is different from quantity.

Number is different from quantity.

Money is always transitively valued. More money is supposedly always better than less money.

Money is always transitively valued. More money is supposedly always better than less money.

There is a strong tendency in explanatory prose to invoke quantities of tension, energy, and...

There is a strong tendency in explanatory prose to invoke quantities of tension, energy, and...

It is, I claim, nonsense to say that it does not matter which individual man...

It is, I claim, nonsense to say that it does not matter which individual man...

Science, like art, religion, commerce, warfare, and even sleep, is based on presuppositions.

Science, like art, religion, commerce, warfare, and even sleep, is based on presuppositions.

Logic is a poor model of cause and effect.

Logic is a poor model of cause and effect.

If we pursue this matter further, we shall be told that the stable object is...

If we pursue this matter further, we shall be told that the stable object is...

Language commonly stresses only one side of any interaction.

Language commonly stresses only one side of any interaction.

We do not know enough about how the present will lead into the future.

We do not know enough about how the present will lead into the future.

Logic can often be reversed, but the effect does not precede the cause.

Logic can often be reversed, but the effect does not precede the cause.