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

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...

In the transmission of human culture, people always attempt to replicate, to pass on to...

In the transmission of human culture, people always attempt to replicate, to pass on to...

Rather, for all objects and experiences, there is a quantity that has optimum value. Above...

Rather, for all objects and experiences, there is a quantity that has optimum value. Above...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Language commonly stresses only one side of any interaction.

Language commonly stresses only one side of any interaction.

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...

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...

It is impossible, in principle, to explain any pattern by invoking a single quantity.

It is impossible, in principle, to explain any pattern by invoking a single quantity.

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...

Numbers are the product of counting. Quantities are the product of measurement. This means that...

Numbers are the product of counting. Quantities are the product of measurement. This means that...

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...

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.

Logic is a poor model of cause and effect.

Logic is a poor model of cause and effect.

Every move we make in fear of the next war in fact hastens it.

Every move we make in fear of the next war in fact hastens it.

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.

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...