Quotessence
Home / Authors / Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks Quotes

Neurologist

Filter quotes by topic

AllBrainIfsSciencePsychologyFeelingsPeopleIdentitySelfThinkingWorldLanguagePatientFeelsHumansLifeMemoriesMenMusicalHallucinationsUnique

Famous Oliver Sacks Quotes

“Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does-humans are a musical species.”

FirstsHumansDoeMovingLanguageEmotionBrainBeatsAreasDancingSpeciesDepthMusicalLiftsHeightPower Of MusicFirst Date
Book:Migraine
Create image

“There are, of course, inherent tendencies to repetition in music itself. Our poetry, our ballads, our songs are full of repetition; nursery rhymes and the little chants and songs we use to teach young children have choruses and refrains. We are attracted to repetition, even as adults; we want the stimulus and the reward again and again, and in music we get it. Perhaps, therefore, we should not be surprised, should not complain if the balance sometimes shifts too far and our musical sensitivity becomes a vulnerability.”

IfsWantShouldChildrenLittlesSometimesUseYoungSongCoursesTeachBalanceAdultsRewardsMusicalComplainingTendenciesVulnerabilityInherentAgain And AgainRhymeSensitivityRepetitionStimulusRefrainChorusNurseryYoung ChildrenBalladsNursery Rhymes
Author:Oliver Sacks
Create image

“Given her deafness, the auditory part of the brain, deprived of its usual input, had started to generate a spontaneous activity of its own, and this took the form of musical hallucinations, mostly musical memories from her earlier life. The brain needed to stay incessantly active, and if it was not getting its usual stimulation..., it would create its own stimulation in the form of hallucinations.”

IfsFormGivenMemoriesBrainNeededActivityMusicalActiveUsualSpontaneousDeprivedInputHallucinationsStimulationIncessantlyDeafnessAuditory
Book:Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
Create image