There are few things as toxic as a bad metaphor. You can’t think without metaphors.
MARY CATHERINE BATESONHuman beings tend to regard the conventions of their own societies as natural, often as sacred.
More Mary Catherine Bateson Quotes
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Human beings do not eat nutrients, they eat food.
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Of any stopping place in life, it is good to ask whether it will be a good place from which to go on as well as a good place to remain.
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Jazz exemplifies artistic activity that is at once individual and communal, performance that is both repetitive and innovative, each participant sometimes providing background support and sometimes flying free.
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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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The past empowers the present, and the sweeping footsteps leading to this present mark the pathways to the future.
MARY CATHERINE BATESON -
Human beings tend to regard the conventions of their own societies as natural, often as sacred.
MARY CATHERINE BATESON -
We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.
MARY CATHERINE BATESON -
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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As you get up in the morning, as you make decisions, as you spend money, make friends, make commitments, you are creating a piece of art called your life.
MARY CATHERINE BATESON -
Fluidity and discontinuity are central to the reality in which we live.
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The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.
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Fear is not a good teacher. The lessons of fear are quickly forgotten.
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Every loss recapitulates earlier losses, but every affirmation of identity echoes earlier moments of clarity.
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Goals too clearly defined can become blinkers.
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The capacity to combine commitment with skepticism is essential to democracy.
MARY CATHERINE BATESON






