Quotes by Norman Cousins

“Respect for the fragility and importance of an individual life is still the mark of an educated man.”

“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.”

“Where is the indignation about the fact that the United States and Soviet Union have accumulated thirty thousand pounds of destructive force for every human being in the world?”

“Cynicism is intellectual treason.”

“We will not have peace by afterthought.”

“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.”

“He who keeps his cool best wins.”

“Government in the U.S. today is a senior partner in every business in the country.”

“History is a vast early warning system.”

“Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!”

“Optimist: Person who travels on nothing from nowhere to happiness”

“Nothing is more powerful than an individual acting out of his conscience, thus helping to bring the collective conscience to life”

“A book is like a piece of rope; it takes on meaning only in connection with the things it holds together.”

“Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.”

“It is reasonable to expect the doctor to recognize that science may not have all the answers to problems of health and healing.”

“In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility”

“The more serious the illness, the more important it is for you to fight back, mobilizing all your resources-spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical.”

“The way a book is read which is to say, the qualities a reader brings to a book can have as much to do with its worth as anything the author puts into it.”

“Ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep”

“Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.”