---
title: "2 Generalities Quotes By Gregory Bateson"
description: "2 Generalities quotes by Gregory Bateson. Plus more from Gregory Bateson and more Generalities sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c92/gregory-bateson-7135_behavior_no-organism-can-afford-to-be-conscious-o_339945.png"
---

> [No organism can afford to be conscious of matters with which it could deal at unconscious levels. Broadly, we can afford to sink those sorts of knowledge which continue to be true regardless of changes in the environment, but we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/no-organism-can-afford-to-be-conscious-of-matters-with-which-it-could/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c92/gregory-bateson-7135_behavior_no-organism-can-afford-to-be-conscious-o_339945.png)

> [No organism can afford to be conscious of matters with which it could deal at unconscious levels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/no-organism-can-afford-to-be-conscious-of-matters-with-which-it-could-2/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b03/gregory-bateson-7135_biology_no-organism-can-afford-to-be-conscious-o_2257372.png)

## More by Gregory Bateson

> [Number is different from quantity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/number-is-different-from-quantity/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [We do not know enough about how the present will lead into the future. We shall never be able to say, "Ha! My perception,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/we-do-not-know-enough-about-how-the-present-will-lead-into-the-future/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [Synaptic summation is the technical term used in neurophysiology for those instances in which some neuron C is fired only by a combination of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/synaptic-summation-is-the-technical-term-used-in-neurophysiology-for/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/somebody-was-saying-to-picasso-that-he-ought-to-make-pictures-of/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [Still more astonishing is that world of rigorous fantasy which we call mathematics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/still-more-astonishing-is-that-world-of-rigorous-fantasy-which-we/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [What is true is that the idea of power corrupts. Power corrupts most rapidly those who believe in it, and it is they who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/what-is-true-is-that-the-idea-of-power-corrupts-power-corrupts-most/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [“A little hypocrisy and a little compromise oils the wheels of social life”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/a-little-hypocrisy-and-a-little-compromise-oils-the-wheels-of-social/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [Science, like art, religion, commerce, warfare, and even sleep, is based on presuppositions. It differs, however, from most other branches of human activity in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/science-like-art-religion-commerce-warfare-and-even-sleep-is-based-on/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [Desired substance, things, patterns, or sequences of experience that are in some sense "good" for the organism - items of diet, conditions of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/desired-substance-things-patterns-or-sequences-of-experience-that-are/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [No organism can afford to be conscious of matters with which it could deal at unconscious levels. Broadly, we can afford to sink those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/no-organism-can-afford-to-be-conscious-of-matters-with-which-it-could/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [Wisdom is the intelligence of the system as a whole.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/wisdom-is-the-intelligence-of-the-system-as-a-whole/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [Still more astonishing is that world of rigorous fantasy we call mathematics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/still-more-astonishing-is-that-world-of-rigorous-fantasy-we-call/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [The pathology is to want control, not that you ever get it, because of course you never do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/the-pathology-is-to-want-control-not-that-you-ever-get-it-because-of/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [Our initial sensory data are always "first derivatives," statements about differences which exist among external objects or statements about changes which occur either in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/our-initial-sensory-data-are-always-first-derivatives-statements/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

> [Multiple descriptions are better than one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/multiple-descriptions-are-better-than-one/)

[Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/)

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