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Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks Quotes

Neurologist

Oliver Sacks was a renowned neurologist known for his profound insights into the human brain and nervous system. His work delved into the relationship between brain diseases and human behavior, revealing the fascinating world of neuroscience to readers.

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Famous Oliver Sacks Quotes

“I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special intercourse of writers and readers. 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.”

Thinking Love Life Inspirational Death Gratitude Oliver Sacks

Book:Gratitude

Source: Gratitude

“I think hallucinations need to be discussed. There are all sorts of hallucinations, and then many sorts which are okay, like the ones I think which most of us have in bed at night before we fall asleep, when we can see all sorts of patterns or faces and scenes.”

Thinking Needs Faces Night Fall Scene Bed Okay Patterns Hallucinations

Author:Oliver Sacks

“I think the brain is a dynamic system in which some parts control or suppress other parts. And if perhaps one has damage in one of the controlling or suppressing areas, then you may have the emergence or eruption of something, whether it is a seizure, a criminal trait - - or even a sudden musical passion.”

Ifs Thinking May Passion Brain Areas Musical Criminals Damage Traits Emergence Suppressing Seizures Eruption

Author:Oliver Sacks

“The same areas which are active in listening to music are also active when you imagine music, and this includes the motor areas, too. That explains why earlier, even though I was only thinking of the mazurka, I was thinking in terms of movement.”

Thinking Term Imagine Movement Listening Areas Active Listening To Music Motor

Author:Oliver Sacks

“I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort of musical species.”

Thinking Important Culture Music Is Species Musical

Author:Oliver Sacks

“I think there are dozens or hundreds of different forms of creativity. Pondering science and math problems for years is different from improvising jazz. Something which seems to me remarkable is how unconscious the creative process is. You encounter a problem, but can't solve it.”

Thinking Years Different Problem Seems Form Process Creativity Creative Jazz Solve Math Encounters Unconscious Remarkable Dozen Creative Process Pondering Improvising Math Problems

Author:Oliver Sacks

“Although I think it is wonderful to have the whole world of music available in something that small and to have it conveyed with such fidelity almost straight into the brain, I think the technology is also a danger.”

Thinking World Whole Brain Technology Wonderful Danger Available Whole World Fidelity

Author:Oliver Sacks

“I think there's probably always been visions and voices, and these were variously ascribed to the divine or demonic or the muses. I think many poets still feel they depend on an inner voice, or a voice which tells them what to do.”

Thinking Feels Stills Voice Vision Divine Poet Depends Muse Inner Voice Demonic

Author:Oliver Sacks

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

People Thinking Speak Community Communication Speech

Book:Seeing Voices

Source: Seeing Voices

“I was fascinated that one could have such perceptual changes, and also that they went with a certain feeling of significance, an almost numinous feeling. I'm strongly atheist by disposition, but nonetheless when this happened, I couldn't help thinking, 'That must be what the hand of God is like.'”

Thinking Helping Feelings Hands Certain Happened Atheist Significance Weed Fascinated Marijuana Disposition Hands Of God Medical Marijuana Funny Marijuana Funny Weed Numinous

Author:Oliver Sacks

“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.”

Thinking Has Beens Beautiful Animal Planets Adventure Privilege Enormous Sentient Beings

Book:Gratitude

Source: Gratitude

About the Author

Born: July 9, 1933
Died: August 30, 2015
Known for: Neurologist
Quotes: 157

Related Topics

Brain Ifs Science Psychology Feelings People Identity Self Thinking World Language Patient Feels Humans Life Memories Men Musical Hallucinations Unique

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical TalesRelated source material

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The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: Picador ClassicRelated source material

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the BrainRelated source material

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A Leg to Stand OnRelated source material

An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical TalesRelated source material

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