Without context words and actions have no meaning at all Gregory Bateson More Quotes by Gregory Bateson More Quotes From Gregory Bateson The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think. Gregory Bateson differencesnaturethinking The meaning of your communication is the response you get. Gregory Bateson responsecommunication We can never be quite clear whether we are referring to the world as it is or to the world as we see it. Gregory Bateson referringclearworld Yes, metaphor. That's how the whole fabric of mental interconnections holds together. Metaphor is right at the bottom of being alive. Gregory Bateson fabricalivetogether Information is a difference that makes a difference. Gregory Bateson making-a-differenceinformationdifferences It takes two to know one. Gregory Bateson knowstwo The only way out is spiritual, intellectual, and emotional revolution in which, finally, we learn to experience first hand the interloping connections between person and person, organism and organism, action and consequence. Gregory Bateson emotionalspiritualhands A man walking is never in balance, but always correcting for imbalance. Gregory Bateson balancewalkingmen What is the pattern that connects the crab to the lobster and the primrose to the orchid, and all of them to me, and me to you? Gregory Bateson orchidspatternslobster What is true is that the idea of power corrupts. Power corrupts most rapidly those who believe in it, and it is they who will want it most. Obviously, our democratic system tends to give power to those who hunger for it and gives every opportunity to those who don't want power to avoid getting it. Not a very satisfactory arrangement if power corrupts those who believe in it and want it. Gregory Bateson opportunitybelieveideas If a man achieves or suffers change in premises which are deeply embedded in his mind, he will surely find that the results of that change will ramify throughout his whole universe. Gregory Bateson sufferingmindmen The creature that wins against its environment destroys itself. Gregory Bateson environmentcreatureswinning Wisdom is the intelligence of the system as a whole. Gregory Bateson whole I shall argue that the problem of grace is fundamentally a problem of integration and what is to be integrated is the diverse parts of the mind - especially those multiple levels of which one extreme is called 'consciousness' and the other the 'unconscious' Gregory Bateson levelsgracemind Somebody was saying to Picasso that he ought to make pictures of things the way they are-objective pictures. He mumbled that he wasn't quite sure what that would be. The person who was bullying him produced a photograph of his wife from his wallet and said, "There, you see, that is a picture of how she really is." Picasso looked at it and said, "She is rather small, isn't she? And flat?" Gregory Bateson bullyingperspectivewife There are times when I catch myself believing that there is such a thing as something; which is separate from something else. Gregory Bateson believe Pathology is a relatively easy thing to discuss, health is very difficult. This, of course, is one of the reasons why there is such a thing as the sacred, and why the sacred is difficult to talk about, because the sacred is peculiarly related to the healthy. One does not like to disturb the sacred, for in general, to talk about something changes it, and perhaps will turn it into a pathology. Gregory Bateson healthydoereligion We are most of us governed by epistemologies that we know to be wrong Gregory Bateson epistemologyknows The pathology is to want control, not that you ever get it, because of Gregory Bateson pathologycourseswant In the transmission of human culture, people always attempt to replicate, to pass on to the next generation the skills and values of the parents, but the attempt always fails because cultural transmission is geared to learning, not DNA. Gregory Bateson parentskillspeople
