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To Be Able To Rise From The Earth; To Be Able, From A Station In Outer Space, To See The Relationship Of The Planet Earth To Other Planets; To Be Able To Contemplate The Billions Of Factors In Precise And Beautiful Combination That Make Human Existence Possible; To Be Able To Dwell On An Encounter Of The Human Brain And Spirit With The Universe

-Norman Cousins

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To Be Able To

Norman Cousins

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To Be Able To Rise From The Earth; To Be Able, From A Station In Outer Space, To See The Relationship Of The Planet Earth To Other Planets; To Be Able To Contemplate The Billions Of Factors In Precise And Beautiful Combination That Make Human Existence Possible; To Be Able To Dwell On An Encounter Of The Human Brain And Spirit With The Universe

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Fortunately Or Otherwise We Live At A Time When The Average Individual Has To Know Several Times As Much In Order To Keep Informed As He Did Only Thirty Or Forty Years Ago. Being "educated" Today Requires Not Only More Than A Superficial Knowledge Of The Arts And Sciences, But A Sense Of Inter-relationship Such As Is Taught In Few Schools. Finally, Being "educated" Today, In Terms Of The Larger Needs, Means Preparation For World Citizenship; In Short, Education For Survival.

Nature Has Not Been Lavish In Her Endowments, But Each Person Has His Or Her Own Potential In Terms Of Achievement And Service. The Awareness Of That Potential Is The Discovery Of Purpose; The Fulfillment Of That Potential Is The Discovery Of Strength.

The Growth Of The Human Mind Is Still High Adventure, In Many Ways The Highest Adventure On Earth.

History Is An Accumulation Of Error.

The One Thing I Have Learned About Editing Over The Years Is That You Have To Edit And Publish Out Of Your Own Tastes, Enthusiasms, And Concerns, And Not Out Of Notions Or Guesswork About What Other People Might Like To Read.

The Doctor Knows That It Is The Prescription Slip Itself, Even More Than What Is Written On It, That Is Often The Vital Ingredient For Enabling A Patient To Get Rid Of Whatever Is Ailing Him.

Assume Responsibility For The Quality Of Your Own Life

Death Is Not The Greatest Loss In Life. The Greatest Loss Is What Dies Inside Us While We Live.

I Cannot Affirm God If I Fail To Affirm Man. Therefore, I Affirm Both. Without A Belief In Human Unity I Am Hungry And Incomplete. Human Unity Is The Fulfillment Of Diversity. It Is The Harmony Of Opposites. It Is A Many-stranded Texture, With Color And Depth.

A Casual Attitude Toward Human Hurt And Pain Is The Surest Sign Of Educational Failure.

The Tragedy Of Life Is In What Dies Inside A Man While He Lives - The Death Of Genuine Feeling, The Death Of Inspired Response, The Awareness That Makes It Possible To Feel The Pain Or The Glory Of Other Men In Yourself.

Belief Creates Biology.

Wisdom Consists Of The Anticipation Of Consequences.

We Are Becoming A Nation Of Sissies And Hypochondriacs, A Self Medicating Society Easily Intimidated By Pain And Prone To Panic. We Understand Almost Nothing About The Essential Robustness Of The Human Body Or Its Ability To Meet The Challenge Of Illness.

Where Is The Indignation About The Fact That The Us And Ussr Have Thirty Thousand Pounds Of Destructive Force For Every Human Being In The World?

Optimism Doesn't Wait On Facts. It Deals With Prospects. Pessimism Is A Waste Of Time.

But We Have Yet To Make Peace Basic To Our Education. The Most Important Subject In The World Is Hardly Taught At All. In The Spirit Of This Passage, The Editor Has Taken The Liberty Of Editing Mr. Cousins' Language To Make It More Gender Inclusive.

What Was Significant About The Laughter . . . Was Not Just The Fact That It Provides Internal Exercise For A Person . . . Form Of Jogging For The Innards, But That It Creates A Mood In Which The Other Positive Emotions Can Be Put To Work, Too.

Second Only To Freedom, Learning Is The Most Precious Option On Earth.

My Reason Nourishes My Faith And My Faith My Reason.

The Human Body Experiences A Powerful Gravitational Pull In The Direction Of Hope

No One Really Knows Enough To Be A Pessimist.

I've Learned That Next To The Atomic Bomb, The Greatest Danger Is Defeatism, Despair, And Inadequate Awareness Of What Human Beings Possess. I Feel That Any Problem That Can Be Defined Is Capable Of Being Resolved. Out Of This Has Come My Conviction That No Person Knows Enough To Be A Pessimist.

What Was Most Significant About The Lunar Voyage Was Not That Men Set Foot On The Moon But That They Set Eye On The Earth.

More And More, The Choice For The World's People Is Between Becoming World Warriors Or World Citizens.

Of All The Gifts Bestowed By Nature On Human Beings, Hearty Laughter Must Be Close To The Top.

Your Heaviest Artillery Will Be Your Will To Live. Keep That Big Gun Going.

The Great Challenge Of The '90s... Is To Salvage And Improve The Un And To Develop It Into An Agency Capable Of Meeting The Wide Range Of Serious Problems That Are Inherent In A World That Has Become A Single Geographic Unit.

Progress Begins With The Belief That What Is Necessary Is Possible.

The Essence Of Man Is Imperfection. Failure Is Simply A Price We Pay To Achieve Success. If We Learn To Embrace That New Definition Of Failure, Then We Are Free To Start Moving Ahead - And Failing Forward.

For Every Low There Is An Equal But Opposite High.

Pessimism Is A Waste Of Time.

It Is No Longer Correct To Regard Higher Education Solely As A Privilege. It Is A Basic Right In Today's World.

The Main Trouble With Despair Is That It Is Self-fulfilling.

An Adequate Share Of Humor And Laughter Represents An Essential Part Of The Diet Of The Healthy Person.

The Essence Of Man Is Imperfection.

The Human Body Experiences A Powerful Gravitational Pull In The Direction Of Hope. That Is Why The Patient's Hopes Are The Physician's Secret Weapon. They Are The Hidden Ingredients In Any Prescription.

The Justification For Those Actions Was That We Were Living In A Very Hard, Predatory, Cloak-and-dagger World And That The Only Way To Deal With A Totalitarian Enemy Was To Intimidate Him. The Trouble With This Theory Was That While We Live In A World Of Plot And Counterplot, We Also Live In A World Of Cause And Effect. Whatever The Cause For The Decision To Legitimize And Regularize Deceit Abroad, The Inevitable Effect Was The Practice Of Deceit At Home.

The American People Are Beginning To Think In New Ways About Health And Illness . . . Bernie Siegel Is Helping To Define And Open Up These New Frontiers. In This Sense He Is In The Best Medical Tradition.

The Starting Point For A Better World Is The Belief That It Is Possible.

In A Democracy, The Individual Enjoys Not Only The Ultimate Power But Carries The Ultimate Responsibility.

Democracies Have

Don't Defy The Diagnosis, Try To Defy The Verdict.

Death Is Not The Enemy; Living In Constant Fear Of It Is.

Just As There Is No Loss Of Basic Energy In The Universe, So No Thought Or Action Is Without Its Effects, Present Or Ultimate, Seen Or Unseen, Felt Or Unfelt.

War Is An Invention Of The Human Mind. The Human Mind Can Invent Peace With Justice.

The Individual Is Capable Of Both Great Compassion And Great Indifference. He Has It Within His Means To Nourish The Former And Outgrow The Latter.

If The United Nations Is To Survive, Those Who Represent It Must Bolster It; Those Who Advocate It Must Submit To It; And Those Who Believe In It Must Fight For It.

Intelligence And The Spirit Of Adventure Can Be Combined To Create New Energies, And Out Of These Energies May Come Exciting And Rewarding New Prospects.

Government In The U.s. Today Is A Senior Partner In Every Business In The Country.

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Cynicism Is Intellectual Treason.

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Pain Is Part Of The Body's Magic. It Is The Way The Body Transmits A Sign To The Brain That Something Is Wrong.

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We Will Not Have Peace By Afterthought.

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Education Tends To Be Diagrammatic And Categorical, Opening Up No Sluices In The Human Imagination On The Wonder Of The Beauty Of Our Unique Estate In The Cosmos. Little Wonder That It Becomes So Easy For Our Young To Regard Human Hurt Casually Or To Be Uninspired By The Magic Of Sensitivity.

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Hope Is Independent Of The Apparatus Of Logic.

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The Heart Of The Matter Is That Some People Like To Cause Injury Or Death To Living Things. And Many Of Those Who Do Not Are Indifferent To Those Who Do.

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All Things Are Possible, Once Enough Human Beings Realize That Everything Is At Stake.

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The Life-force May Be The Least Understood Force On Earth.

The Library Is Not A Shrine For The Worship Of Books. It Is Not A Temple Where Literary Incense Must Be Burned Or Where One's One Devotion To The Bound Book Is Expressed In Ritual. A Library, To Modify The Famous Metaphor Of Socrates, Should Be The Delivery Room For The Birth Of Ideas - A Place Where History Comes To Life.

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Ten Minutes Of Genuine Belly Laughter Had An Anesthetic Effect And Would Give Me At Least Two Hours Of Pain-free Sleep.

If News Is Not Really News Unless It Is Bad News, It May Be Difficult To Claim We Are An Informed Nation

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People Are Never More Insecure Than When They Become Obsessed With Their Fears At The Expense Of Their Dreams.

If There Is A Conflict Between The Easy Drift Of Prosperity And The Ordeal Of Peace, The Ordeal Of Peace Comes First.

Freedom Of Religion, As The Founding Fathers Saw It, Was Not Just The Right To Associate Oneself With A Certain Denomination But The Right To Disassociate Without Penalty. Belief Or Nonbelief Was A Matter Of Individual Choice - A Right Underwritten In The Basic Charter Of The Nation's Liberties.

Individual Choice

It Makes Little Difference How Many University Courses Or Degrees A Person May Own. If He Cannot Use Words To Move An Idea From One Point To Another, His Education Is Incomplete.

A Book Is Like A Piece Of Rope; It Takes On Meaning Only In Connection With The Things It Holds Together.

A Library Is The Delivery Room For The Birth Of Ideas, A Place Where History Comes To Life.

To Be Able To Rise From The Earth; To Be Able, From A Station In Outer Space, To See The Relationship Of The Planet Earth To Other Planets; To Be Able To Contemplate The Billions Of Factors In Precise And Beautiful Combination That Make Human Existence Possible; To Be Able To Dwell On An Encounter Of The Human Brain And Spirit With The Universe

It Is Reasonable To Expect The Doctor To Recognize That Science May Not Have All The Answers To Problems Of Health And Healing.

Each Patient Carries His Own Doctor Inside Him.

Humanity Today Is Not Safe In The Presence Of Humanity. The Old Cannibalism Has Given Way To Anonymous Action In Which The Killer And The Killed Do Not Know Each Other, And In Which,indeed, The Very Fact Of Mass Death Has The Effect Of Making Mass Killing Less Reprehensible Than The Death Of A Single Individual. In Short, We Have Evolved In Every Respect Except Our Ability To Protect Ourselves Against Human Intelligence. Our Knowledge Is Vast But Does Not Embrace The Workings Of Peace.

The More Serious The Illness, The More Important It Is For You To Fight Back, Mobilizing All Your Resources-spiritual, Emotional, Intellectual, Physical.

Death Is Not The Greatest Tragedy In Life. The Greatest Tragedy Is What Dies Inside Us While We Live. We Need Not Fear Death. We Need Fear Only That We May Exist Without Having Sensed Something Of The Possibilities That Lie Within Human Existence.

Never Deny A Diagnosis, But Do Deny The Negative Verdict That May Go With It.

Education Fails Unless The Three R's At One End Of The School Spectrum Lead Ultimately To The Four P's At The Other-preparati On For Earning, Preparation For Living, Preparation For Understanding, Preparation For Participation In The Problems Involved In The Making Of A Better World.

Do You Prefer That You Be Right Or Happy?

The Purpose Of Education Is To Enable Us To Develop To The Fullest That Which Is Inside Us

Purpose Of Education

He Who Keeps His Cool Best Wins.

The Physician Knows That His Little Black Bag Can Carry Him Only So Far And That The Body's Own Healing System Is The Main Resource.

I Have Learned Never To Underestimate The Capacity Of The Human Mind And Body To Regenerate - Even When Prospects Seem Most Wretched. The Life Force May Be The Least Understood Force On Earth.

Words Have To Be Crafted, Not Sprayed. They Need To Be Fitted Together With Infinite Care.

Nixon's Motto Was, If Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right, Try Three.

Hearty Laughter Is A Good Way To Jog Internally Without Having To Go Outdoors.

History Is A Vast Early Warning System.

What A Man Really Says When He Says That Someone Else Can Be Persuaded By Force, Is That He Himself Is Incapable Of More Rational Means Of Communication.

The Conquest Of War And The Pursuit Of Social Justice... Must Become Our Grand Preoccupation And Magnificent Obsession.

The Possibility Of War Increases In Direct Proportion To The Effectiveness Of The Instruments Of War.

Laughter Is Inner Jogging.

To Talk About The Need For Perfection In Man Is To Talk About The Need For Another Species.

The Physician's Ability To Reassure The Patient Is A Major Factor In Activating The Body's Own Healing System.

The Main Failure Of Education Is That It Has Not Prepared People To Comprehend Matters Concerning Human Destiny.

We Have Learned To Live In A World Of Mistakes And Defective Products As If They Were Necessary To Life. It Is Time To Adopt A New Philosophy In America.

Laughter Serves As A Blocking Agent. Like A Bullet-proof Vest, It May Help Protect You Against The Ravages Of Negative Emotions That Can Assault You In Disease.

Respect For The Fragility And Importance Of An Individual Life Is Still The Mark Of An Educated Man.

The Sense Of Paralysis Proceeds Not So Much Out Of The Mammoth Size Of The Problem But Out Of The Puniness Of The Purpose.

Why Are People More Appalled At What They Term An Unnatural Form Of Dying Than By An Unnatural Form Of Living?

The Most Costly Disease Is Boredom Costly For Both Individual And Society.

If Something Comes To Life In Others Because Of You, Then You Have Made An Approach To Immortality.

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