Psychoanalysis is often about turning our ghosts into ancestors.

Everything having to do with human training and education has to be re-examined in light of neuroplasticity.

Thought changes structure... I saw people rewire their brains with their thoughts, to cure previously incurable obsessions and trauma.

Mind training matters. It is not just a luxury, or a supplementary vitamin for the soul. It determines the quality of every instant of our lives.

Nothing speeds brain atrophy more than being immobilized in the same environment.

Ironically, some of our most stubborn habits and disorders are products of our plasticity.

Neuroplasticity contributes to both the constrained and unconstrained aspects of our nature. It renders our brains not only more resourceful, but also more vulnerable to outside influences.

Because it is a 'use it or lose it' brain, when we develop a map area [in the brain], we long to keep it activated. Just as our muscles become impatient for exercise if we've been sitting all day.

Not all activities are equal... Those that involve genuine concentration - studying a musical instrument, playing board games, reading, and dancing - are associated with a lower risk for dementia.

...an effective psychotherapist or psychoanalyst is a "microsurgeon of the mind" who helps patients make needed alterations in neuronal networks.

We all have what might be called a culturally modified brain, and as cultures evolve, they continually lead to new changes in the brain.

We are all, I suppose, beholden to our parents - the question is, how much?

I never really wanted to die. But I followed through anyway. The pain in my heart was excruciating, and death was beautiful.

Writing fiction is fundamentally an irrational act.

When you say, "History is written by the winners," you like to think about someone who isn't you. You want to think, "Oh, that's the juggernaut I'm standing against." But you're probably part of it.

All our words and actions pass in review before God.

I painted. I wanted to be a painter. I sang.

Language is a finding place, not a hiding place.

One of my greatest fears is not being able to change, to be caught in a never-ending cycle of sameness. Growth is so important.

I think passion is the magnet to anything.

I remember thinking that I'd way rather give my parents my money, and not have to like have them go to work anymore, you know what I mean. Because I'd way rather spend more time with them.