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A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness. If the map could be ideally correct, it would include, in a reduced scale, the map of the map ; the map of the map, of the map; and so on, endlessly, a fact first noticed by Royce.

— Alfred Korzybski Science and Sanity (1933)

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More quotes by Alfred Korzybski

There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking.

Manhood of Humanity (1921)

The only usefulness of a map depends on similarity of structure between the empirical world and the map.

Science and Sanity (1933)

'Whatever you might say the object "is", well it is not.'

The map is not the territory … The only usefulness of a map depends on similarity of structure between the empirical world and the map.

Science and Sanity (1933)

Two important characteristics of maps should be noticed. A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Alfred Korzybski (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.