Mary Catherine Bateson

Sharing is sometimes more demanding than giving.

Monotony and repetition are characteristic of many parts of life, but these do not become sources of conscious discomfort until novelty and entertainment are built up as positive experiences.

Fluidity and discontinuity are central to the reality in which we live.

Every loss recapitulates earlier losses but every affirmation of identity echoes earlier moments of clarity.

No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a really nice man who wishes she were not.

The family is changing, not disappearing. We have to broaden our understanding of it, look for the new metaphors.

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.

The timing of death, like the ending of a story, gives a changed meaning to what preceded it.

Goals too clearly defined can become blinkers.

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.

Fear is not a good teacher. The lessons of fear are quickly forgotten.

There are few things as toxic as a bad metaphor. You can't think without metaphors.

Human beings do not eat nutrients, they eat food.

The capacity to combine commitment with skepticism is essential to democracy.