“I would think that you are more fluent with the rational. It has its appeal. But the irrational permits a greater exercise of ... shall we say, power.” ThinkingGreaterExerciseRationalAppealsPermitIrrationalFluent Book:Mr g: A Novel About the Creation Source: Mr g: A Novel About the Creation
“I think that the scienti?c way of looking at the world, and the humanistic way of looking at the world are complementary. There are important differences which should be preserved, and in trying to do away with those differences we would lose something the same way as if we tried to make all religions one religion or all races one race. There is a cultural diversity that's very valuable, and it's valuable to have different ways of looking at the world.” IfsThinkingWorldWayShouldTryingImportantDifferentLosesDifferencesRaceDiversityValuableDifferent WaysCultural DiversityComplementaryHumanistic Author:Alan Lightman
“Don't you feel something magical when you're in love?... I do, I certainly do ... but I think that feeling of magic is a hardwired psychological response. It's a chemical thing in the brain. It's a flow of chemicals and electrical currents, and it developed over millions of years in the process of evolution to aid in the procreation of the species.” ThinkingFeelsYearsFeelingsProcessBrainMillionsMagicEvolutionFlowResponseSpeciesCurrentsAidsPsychologicalChemicalsElectricalProcreation Author:Alan Lightman
“I have no opposition at all to technology. I think technology is a wonderful thing that has to be used thoughtfully, and we can't just assume that every bit of new technology improvesthe quality of life; it's really in how the technology is used. What I am very disturbed about is this trend of everything happening faster and faster and faster and there being more and more general noise in the world, and less and less time for quiet reflection on who we are, and where we're going.” ThinkingWorldUsedBitsQualityTechnologyWonderfulQuietHappeningsReflectionAssumingThings HappenNoiseFasterWho We AreOppositionTrendsWonderful ThingsQuality Of LifeDisturbedNew TechnologyQuiet Reflection Author:Alan Lightman
“Although technology is proceeding at a dizzying pace, I believe that the human mind will always have control of itself. And since the human mind has a degree of infinity and imagination unlikely to be matched by a machine for a very, very long time, I don't think that we will become the machines of the machines.” ThinkingMindBelieveHumansLongI BelieveImaginationTechnologyDegreesLong TimeMachinesHuman MindPaceInfinityUnlikelyProceedingMatched Book:A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit Source: A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit
“Oh, love is very much a physical thing.... I realize that it's very complicated, and I'm sure it can't be traced to individual neurons and hormones, but I think it's very much a physiological sensation that takes place in the brain.” ThinkingIndividualRealizingLove IsBrainComplicatedSensationsHormonesNeuronsPhysiologicalPhysical Things Book:Ghost: A Novel Source: Ghost: A Novel
“My writings are an exploration, and I think a lot of writers would tell you this, but in writing, you're not simply putting down things that are already known to you. You're actually discovering in the writing process, you're actually creating knowledge.” ThinkingWritingProcessKnownCreatingExplorationDiscoveringWriting Process Author:Alan Lightman
“Science is an intellectual journey, and to me, it's not the destination, it's the journeyto get there. It's a way of thinking and it's an intellectual curiosity, a desire to know how the world works, and to know what the fundamental principles of the world are, and to know our place in it. I think once we stop asking questions like "what is the age of the universe," or "how are the instructions of DNA carried out on a microscopic level," once we stop asking questions like that, we're dead.” ThinkingKnowsWorldWayAgeDesireUniverseLevelsPrinciplesKnow HowJourneyIntellectualAskingFundamentalsCuriosityDestinationInstructionDnaWay Of ThinkingAsking QuestionsFundamental PrinciplesIntellectual Curiosity Author:Alan Lightman
“Another strand of my writing is the importance of the idea. If you think about fiction writing as a spectrum, where at one end of the spectrum in the infrared, are the story tellers, and the people for whom creation of wonderful characters and telling a good story is the most important thing.” PeopleIfsThinkingWritingImportantIdeasEndsCharacterStoriesFictionWonderfulCreationImportanceImportant ThingsSpectrumGood StoryFiction WritingStrandsInfrared Author:Alan Lightman
“I think Joe Leiberman has been one of the leaders of the country... people have such a broad respect for him as a moral force.” PeopleThinkingHas BeensCountryForceLeaderMoralBroads Author:Alan Lightman
“I think all tragedies are best told with some humor. You have to relieve the darkness to let the reader get through it. Also, that life has happiness and sadness mixed together. If you told a story that was all darkness, it wouldn't be real.” IfsThinkingRealStoriesTogetherDarknessSadnessReaderTragedyBeing RealHappiness And Sadness Author:Alan Lightman
“"The Diagnosis" is by far my most ambitious book. I such great hopes for it... there was so much I wanted to do with the book. I was extremely insecure about it for several years. Just didn't know whether I would finish the book much less for it to come close to what I intended. I think that for any novel you never know exactly how the book is going to turn out...” ThinkingKnowsYearsBookWantedTurnsNovelAmbitiousInsecureDiagnosisGreat Hope Author:Alan Lightman
“"The Diagnosis" had ten drafts of very significant changing, where I went through the whole book, wholesale and changed everything. Then the last year or so it was making small changes. I would do something and let it sit for three months... just brood about and decide I needed to slightly change something here or there. Or one character wasn't quite right. But I think everybody goes through this.” ThinkingYearsBookWholeCharacterLastsThreeChangedMonthsNeededTenSignificantLast YearDiagnosisThree MonthsWholesaleSmall Changes Author:Alan Lightman
“I think what gets you through a small writing project, is just one burst of inspiration. A book, especially a longer book, it's a different kind of force that pushes you through it. It's a vision of the whole thing.” ThinkingWritingKindBookDifferentWholeInspirationForceVisionProjectsJust OneDifferent Kinds Author:Alan Lightman
“I'm still happy with the way Einstein's Dreams came out. That book came out of a single inspiration. I really felt like I was not creating the words, that I was hearing the words. That someone else was speaking the words to me and I was just writing them down. It was a very strange experience. That can happen with a short book. I don't think it could happen with a long book.” ThinkingWayWritingLongStillsBookDreamInspirationHappensFeltStrangeCreatingHearingLong Book Author:Alan Lightman
“The world is moving faster and faster, but where are we going?I think one of the reasons why things are getting blurry is because there is not much meaning.” ThinkingWorldReasonMovingFasterReason WhyBlurry Author:Alan Lightman
“We've lost our way, we have lost our centeredness. We don't have the time, literally, to think during the day. To listen to ourselves think. To think about where we are going, who we are, what's important. I would bet most people don't have thirty minutes in a day where they can just sit down and think. Or maybe they don't have to be sitting, they can be walking.” PeopleThinkingWayImportantLostMinutesWalkingSittingDown AndThirtyWho We AreWhat's ImportantCenteredness Author:Alan Lightman
“I think people all over the institution recognize that different ways of understanding are valuable. Artists may think in a different way than biologists or chemists, but you can learn something from that. It is true that the arts at MIT don't have the same amount of funding or same status as the sciences or engineering.” PeopleThinkingWayMayArtDifferentArtistUnderstandingAmountInstitutionsValuableDifferent WaysEngineeringFundingBiologistChemistMit Author:Alan Lightman
“I'm humbled and enormously grateful to be connected to [Franz] Kafka in a any way. He is one of the writers I admire. I think he has been a big influence on me. I appreciate the idea of the individual person battling the society - which is true in all his books.” ThinkingWayPersonsHas BeensBookIdeasBigsIndividualInfluenceAppreciateGratefulConnectedAdmire Author:Alan Lightman
“I think it is always a long shot getting a book made into a film. Making that book into a film is going to be quite a challenge.” ThinkingLongMadeBookFilmChallengesShotsLong Shots Author:Alan Lightman
“In this world, there are two times. There is mechanical time and there is body time." "They do not keep clocks in their houses. Instead, they listen to their heartbeats. They feel the rhythms of their moods and desires." "Then there are those who think their bodies don't exist. They live by mechanical time. They rise at seven o'clock in the morning. They eat their lunch at noon and their supper at six. They arrive at their appointments on time, precisely by the clock.” ThinkingWorldFeelsTwoBodyDesireHouseMorningThis WorldSixSevenMoodRhythmClockLive ByLunchHeartbeatNoonAppointmentsSupper Author:Alan Lightman
“I think e-mail is representative of our fast food mentality in the United States, where everything has gotten faster and faster, and we're required to respond to inputs more quickly with less time for thought and reflection. I believe that we need to slow down.” ThinkingNeedsBelieveStatesI BelieveUnitedUnited StatesReflectionFasterMailMentalityRepresentativesSlow DownInputFast Food Author:Alan Lightman
“I've taken a philosophical position on e-mail. Although I think it's a wonderful communication technology, and it has a lot of good uses, it is abused quite a lot.” ThinkingUseTechnologyTakenWonderfulPositionCommunicationPhilosophicalMailCommunication Technology Author:Alan Lightman
“We live in a highly polarized society. We need to try to understand each other in respectful ways. To that end, I believe that we should make room for both spiritual atheists and thinking believers.” ThinkingWayNeedsShouldTryingBelieveEndsSpiritualI BelieveRoomsAtheistBelieverRespectful Author:Alan Lightman
