There is a strong tendency in explanatory prose to invoke quantities of tension, energy, and whatnot to explain the genesis of pattern. I believe that all such explanations are inappropriate or wrong.

quote by Gregory Bateson
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Interesting phenomena occur when two or more rhythmic patterns are combined, and these phenomena illustrate very aptly the enrichment of information that occurs when one description is combined with another.

quote by Gregory Bateson
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

It is of first-class importance that our answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx should be in step with how we conduct our civilisation, and this should in turn be in step with the actual workings of living systems.

quote by Gregory Bateson
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

If we pursue this matter further, we shall be told that the stable object is unchanging under the impact or stress of some particular external or internal variable or, perhaps, that it resists the passage of time.

quote by Gregory Bateson
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

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 in Mind and Matter
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian