--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have been told over and over that \"you…" description: "\"We have been told over and over that \"you can't change human nature\", but the study of emic realities shows quite the contrary, that almost anything ca..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11f/robert-anton-wilson-1198_can-t-change_we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you_2600781.jpg" --- # We have been told over and over that "you can't change… ![“We have been told over and over that "you can't change human nature", but the study of emic realities shows quite the contrary, that almost anything can become "human nature" if society defines it as such.” quote by Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11f/robert-anton-wilson-1198_can-t-change_we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you_2600781.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11f/robert-anton-wilson-1198_can-t-change_we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you_2600781.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11f/robert-anton-wilson-1198_can-t-change_we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you_2600781.jpg) > “We have been told over and over that "you can't change human nature", but the study of emic realities shows quite the contrary, that almost anything can become "human nature" if society defines it as such.” [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human nature is not fixed; societies can redefine it, making anything possible. **In simple terms:** Human nature is shaped by societal definitions. Key Takeaway Redefine norms to change behavior. Themes human nature societal constructs flexibility Mood inquisitive open‑minded Type philosophical speculative When to use this quote - culture change - technology adoption - law reform - personal identity Key Concepts social constructionism philosophy of mind Questions to Reflect On - What defines “human nature” today? - How can societies reshape norms? A Different Perspective Deeply ingrained habits may resist change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Can't change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/can-t-change/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Human nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-nature/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Realities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realities/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Reality shows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality-shows/) ## Related quotes > [Every ideology is contrary to human psychology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/every-ideology-is-contrary-to-human-psychology/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [You can't change laws without first changing human nature.' -Nurse Greta You can't change human nature without first changing the law.' -Nurse Yvonne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-shusterman/you-can-t-change-laws-without-first-changing-human-nature-nurse-greta/) [Neal Shusterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-shusterman/) > [It's strange because a lot of people are like, 'You can't change human nature-people are inherently negative.' I don't think that's true. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zooey-deschanel/it-s-strange-because-a-lot-of-people-are-like-you-can-t-change-human/) [Zooey Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zooey-deschanel/) > [People have told me to change it over the years, but my dad is always saying, 'Never change your name!' My middle name is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-ratajkowski/people-have-told-me-to-change-it-over-the-years-but-my-dad-is-always/) [Emily Ratajkowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-ratajkowski/) > [While we were saying all these things about taking care of our fellow men, we were flying around, eating meat, buying things, driving a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/svante-thunberg/while-we-were-saying-all-these-things-about-taking-care-of-our-fellow/) [Svante Thunberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/svante-thunberg/) > [NBC President Fred Silverman told me he would change my life, and proceeded to offer me a five to seven-year contract to replace Jane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mariette-hartley/nbc-president-fred-silverman-told-me-he-would-change-my-life-and/) [Mariette Hartley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mariette-hartley/) > [I told you the one change we would make in the initial start level of the football pressure, but that's really about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-belichick/i-told-you-the-one-change-we-would-make-in-the-initial-start-level-of/) [Bill Belichick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-belichick/) > [As a woman of a certain age - and really, ever since I hit puberty and my baby-making parts were suddenly subject to public…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-kirkman/as-a-woman-of-a-certain-age-and-really-ever-since-i-hit-puberty-and/) [Jen Kirkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-kirkman/) > [I've been lucky because I can't be categorized, even after three records. If people told me to change, I'd quit and say, 'I've had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uncle-kracker/i-ve-been-lucky-because-i-can-t-be-categorized-even-after-three/) [Uncle Kracker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/uncle-kracker/) > [A guy at ABC told me to change my name and get a nose job. I said 'You get a nose job.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mariska-hargitay/a-guy-at-abc-told-me-to-change-my-name-and-get-a-nose-job-i-said-you/) [Mariska Hargitay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mariska-hargitay/) > [“Sometimes, I told myself, change was good.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-benton-frank/sometimes-i-told-myself-change-was-good/) Dorothy Benton Frank > [If I told u, would it change anything? would u see me differently ? would u still be my best friend? would u be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crystal/if-i-told-u-would-it-change-anything-would-u-see-me-differently-would/) [Crystal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crystal/) > [Today a kind man told me 'i could change the world'...so I reached out my hand and said 'we will change it together'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/today-a-kind-man-told-me-i-could-change-the-world-so-i-reached-out-my/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“In with the new, out with the old.’ That’s what we’re told. We have to change, adapt, compromise.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fennel-hudson/in-with-the-new-out-with-the-old-that-s-what-we-re-told-we-have-to/) [Fennel Hudson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fennel-hudson/) > [“Human beings live in their myths. They only endure their realities.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/human-beings-live-in-their-myths-they-only-endure-their-realities/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) ## More by Robert Anton Wilson > [Every fact of science was once Damned. Every invention was considered impossible. Every discovery was a nervous shock to some orthodoxy. Every artistic innovation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/every-fact-of-science-was-once-damned-every-invention-was-considered/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [The only way to stave off boredom, in a complex domesticated primate like humankind, is to increase one's intelligence. This is not appealing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-only-way-to-stave-off-boredom-in-a-complex-domesticated-primate/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Disobedience was man's Original Virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/disobedience-was-man-s-original-virtue/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [In every state of the Union, Fundamentalists still fight to ban all the science they dislike and prosecute all who teach it. To them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/in-every-state-of-the-union-fundamentalists-still-fight-to-ban-all/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [It is a great privilege to be conscious in this universe. Those who understand, shine like stars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/it-is-a-great-privilege-to-be-conscious-in-this-universe-those-who/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [I will do anything, including highway robbery and murder, to avoid leaving my children in poverty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/i-will-do-anything-including-highway-robbery-and-murder-to-avoid/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [I see anarchism as the theoretical ideal to which we are all gradually evolving to a point where everybody can tell the truth to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/i-see-anarchism-as-the-theoretical-ideal-to-which-we-are-all/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“Masturbation is not the happiest form of sexuality, but the most advisable for him who wants to be alone and think. I detect the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/masturbation-is-not-the-happiest-form-of-sexuality-but-the-most/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [I like pacifists and people who have a heavy emotional identification with deathism and war would probably call me a pacifist, but I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/i-like-pacifists-and-people-who-have-a-heavy-emotional-identification/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/cynics-regarded-everybody-as-equally-corrupt-idealists-regarded/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [The most important truths always appear first as blasphemies or obscenities. That's why every great innovator is persecuted. And the sacraments look obscene, too,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-most-important-truths-always-appear-first-as-blasphemies-or/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“When you're dealing with these forces or powers in a philosophic and scientific way, contemplating them from an armchair, that rationalistic approach is useful.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/when-you-re-dealing-with-these-forces-or-powers-in-a-philosophic-and/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [“And Spaceship Earth, that glorious and bloody circus, continued its four-billion-year-long spiral orbit about the Sun; the engineering, I must admit, was so exquisite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/and-spaceship-earth-that-glorious-and-bloody-circus-continued-its/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [Existence is larger than any model that is not itself the exact size of existence (which has no size).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/existence-is-larger-than-any-model-that-is-not-itself-the-exact-size/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/the-totally-convinced-and-the-totally-stupid-have-too-much-in-common/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) [Explore all 274 Robert Anton Wilson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) ## More Can't change quotes > [Donʹt worry now about what you canʹt change. Rest when you can so youʹll be ready for tomorrowʹs battles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-mead/don-t-worry-now-about-what-you-can-t-change-rest-when-you-can-so-you/) [Richelle Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-mead/) > [You can't change your life. This mode in literature goes against the more middle-brown mode, which is about shaping your destiny, changing it. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tommy-mccarthy/you-can-t-change-your-life-this-mode-in-literature-goes-against-the/) Tommy McCarthy > [You can't change a man, no-ways. By the time his mummy turns him loose and he takes up with some innocent woman and marries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marjorie-kinnan-rawlings/you-can-t-change-a-man-no-ways-by-the-time-his-mummy-turns-him-loose/) [Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marjorie-kinnan-rawlings/) > [I don't worry about the things I can't change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferran-adria/i-don-t-worry-about-the-things-i-can-t-change/) [Ferran Adria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferran-adria/) > [Congress decides who becomes a citizen and how. To automatically say the 14th Amendment grants birthright citizenship, no, we can't change that. Amending the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/congress-decides-who-becomes-a-citizen-and-how-to-automatically-say/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [Though I can't change what happened, I can choose how to react. And I don't want to spend the rest of my life being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tori-amos/though-i-can-t-change-what-happened-i-can-choose-how-to-react-and-i/) [Tori Amos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tori-amos/) > [When a poem is really finished, you can't change anything. You can't move words around. You can't say, 'In other words, you mean.' No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/when-a-poem-is-really-finished-you-can-t-change-anything-you-can-t/) [W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/) > [The only thing one can usually change in one's situation is oneself. And yet one can't change that either-only ask Our Lord to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/the-only-thing-one-can-usually-change-in-one-s-situation-is-oneself/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [I can't change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-bigelow/i-can-t-change-my-gender-and-i-refuse-to-stop-making-movies/) [Kathryn Bigelow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-bigelow/) > [But I think it's more that when you're young, you're invincible, you're immortal - or at least you think you are. The possibilities are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damien-hirst/but-i-think-it-s-more-that-when-you-re-young-you-re-invincible-you-re/) [Damien Hirst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damien-hirst/) > [You can't change t he wor ld f rom t he rear view mir ror.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-roddick/you-can-t-change-t-he-wor-ld-f-rom-t-he-rear-view-mir-ror/) [Anita Roddick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-roddick/) > [You can't change your attitude because you're the champion. I've always kept my feet on the ground and never wanted to change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/renan-barao/you-can-t-change-your-attitude-because-you-re-the-champion-i-ve/) Renan Barao > [By the time you're 30, you know who you are inside. You learn to laugh at things you can't change; you learn to be yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kajol/by-the-time-you-re-30-you-know-who-you-are-inside-you-learn-to-laugh/) [Kajol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kajol/) > [Those that can't change even their toothbrush and pyjamas are trying to change the world! Let us be serious!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/those-that-can-t-change-even-their-toothbrush-and-pyjamas-are-trying/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [The message I'm sending to myself - I can't change the world until I change myself first.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kendrick-lamar/the-message-i-m-sending-to-myself-i-can-t-change-the-world-until-i/) [Kendrick Lamar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kendrick-lamar/) [Browse all 311 Can't change quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/can-t-change/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We have been told over and over that \"you can't change human nature\", but the study of emic realities shows quite the contrary, that almost anything can become \"human nature\" if society defines it as such.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Anton Wilson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you-can-t-change-human-nature/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Can't change" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you-can-t-change-human-nature/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11f/robert-anton-wilson-1198_can-t-change_we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you_2600781.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11f/robert-anton-wilson-1198_can-t-change_we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you_2600781.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11f/robert-anton-wilson-1198_can-t-change_we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you_2600781.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We have been told over and over that \"you can't change human nature\", but the study of emic realities shows…” — Robert Anton Wilson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Robert Anton Wilson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We have been told over and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you-can-t-change-human-nature/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/we-have-been-told-over-and-over-that-you-can-t-change-human-nature/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```