Norman Cousins Quotes
Just as there is no loss of basic energy in the universe, so no thought or action is without its effects, present or ultimate, seen or unseen, felt or unfelt.
The sense of paralysis proceeds not so much out of the mammoth size of the problem but out of the puniness of the purpose.
The more serious the illness, the more important it is for you to fight back, mobilizing all your resources-spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical.
A casual attitude toward human hurt and pain is the surest sign of educational failure.
To talk about the need for perfection in man is to talk about the need for another species.
The conquest of war and the pursuit of social justice... must become our grand preoccupation and magnificent obsession.
Although a man may have no jurisdiction over the fact of his existence, he can hold supreme command over the meaning of existence for him.
Man is not imprisoned by habit. Great changes in him can be wrought by crisis - once that crisis can be recognized and understood.
The way a book is read, which is to say, the qualities a reader brings to a book can have as much to do with its worth as anything the author puts into it.
The old emphasis upon superficial differences that separate peoples must give way to education for citizenship in the human community.
We have learned to live in a world of mistakes and defective products as if they were necessary to life. It is time to adopt a new philosophy in America.
It is well known that panic, despair, depression, hate, rage, exasperation, frustration all produce negative biochemical changes in the body.
An adequate share of humor and laughter represents an essential part of the diet of the healthy person.
Words have to be crafted, not sprayed. They need to be fitted together with infinite care.
Intelligence and the spirit of adventure can be combined to create new energies, and out of these energies may come exciting and rewarding new prospects.
If news is not really news unless it is bad news, it may be difficult to claim we are an informed nation
Of all the gifts bestowed by nature on human beings, hearty laughter must be close to the top.
The physician knows that his little black bag can carry him only so far and that the body's own healing system is the main resource.
I have learned never to underestimate the capacity of the human mind and body to regenerate - even when prospects seem most wretched. The life force may be the least understood force on earth.
The message from the moon which we have flashed to the far corners of this planet is that no problem need any longer be considered insoluble.
All this sensory input, which begins in the brain, has its effect throughout the body.
It is no longer correct to regard higher education solely as a privilege. It is a basic right in today's world.
Nothing is more essential in the treatment of serious disease than the liberation of the patient from panic and foreboding.
The physician's ability to reassure the patient is a major factor in activating the body's own healing system.
The possibility of war increases in direct proportion to the effectiveness of the instruments of war.
We have everything we need, in fact, except the most important thing of all — time to think and the habit of thought.
If there is a conflict between the easy drift of prosperity and the ordeal of peace, the ordeal of peace comes first.
The doctor knows that it is the prescription slip itself, even more than what is written on it, that is often the vital ingredient for enabling a patient to get rid of whatever is ailing him.
Why are people more appalled at what they term an unnatural form of dying than by an unnatural form of living?
We are wide-eyed in contemplating the possibility that life may exist elsewhere in the universe, but we wear blinders when contemplating the possibilities of life on earth.
More and more, the choice for the world's people is between becoming world warriors or world citizens.