A suprising number of physicians manage to continue to care about persons even after the rigors of medical training.
MARY CATHERINE BATESONOften continuity is visible only in retrospect.
More Mary Catherine Bateson Quotes
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The timing of death, like the ending of a story, gives a changed meaning to what preceded it.
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Most higher education is devoted to affirming the traditions and origins of an existing elite and transmitting them to new members.
MARY CATHERINE BATESON -
Improvisation and new learning are not private processes; they are shared with others at every age. We are called to join in a dance whose steps must be learned along the way, so it is important to attend and respond. Even in uncertainty, we are responsible for our steps.
MARY CATHERINE BATESON -
The critical question about regret is whether experience led to growth and new learning. Some people seem to keep on making the same mistakes, while others at least make new ones. Regret and remorse can be either paralyzing or inspiring.
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We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.
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There are few things as toxic as a bad metaphor. You can’t think without metaphors.
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The family is changing not disappearing. We have to broaden our understanding of it, look for the new metaphors.
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Caring can be learned by all human beings, can be worked into the design of every life, meeting an individual need as well as a pervasive need in society.
MARY CATHERINE BATESON -
Human beings do not eat nutrients, they eat food.
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The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.
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What would it be like to have not only color vision but culture vision, the ability to see the multiple worlds of others.
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Solutions to problems often depend upon how they’re defined.
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Improvisation can be either a last resort or an established way of evoking creativity.
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Human beings tend to regard the conventions of their own societies as natural, often as sacred.
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When parents die, all of the partings of the past are reevoked with the realization that this time they will not return.
MARY CATHERINE BATESON






