there are other senses -­ secret senses, sixth senses, if you will -­ equally vital, but unrecognized, and unlauded.

In examining disease, we gain wisdom about anatomy and physiology and biology. In examining the person with disease, we gain wisdom about life.

Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.

The power of music to integrate and cure. . . is quite fundamental. It is the profoundest nonchemical medication.

My religion is nature. That’s what arouses those feelings of wonder and mysticism and gratitude in me.

Every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.

We see with the eyes, but we see with the brain as well. And seeing with the brain is often called imagination.

People will make a life in their own terms, whether they are deaf or colorblind or autistic or whatever. And their world will be quite as rich and interesting and full as our world.

If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it.

Language, that most human invention, can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes.

We speak not only to tell other people what we think, but to tell ourselves what we think. Speech is a part of thought.

The God I believe in believes in me and won’t silence my heart or others based on a paycheck at the end of the day.

And like anyone who is in valiant pursuit of a dream, the ups and downs come and go, but the dream lives in the heart forever.

When I rise uplet me rise up joyfullike a bird.When I falllet me fall without regretlike a leaf.

I'm home'', he said against her skin, and she realized it was the truth.''I'm home, too''.

Failure will never stand int he way of success if you learn from it.

In not making the decision, you've made one. Not doing something is the same as doing it.

It seemed like the best weapons in my life had always been the most innocuous: empty plastic bins, a blank CD, an unmarked syringe, my smile in a dark room.

Prayer to be fruitful must come from the heart and must be able to touch the heart of God.

The ingredients of happiness are so simple that they can be counted on one hand. Happiness comes from within, and rests most securely on simple goodness and clear conscience.