Quotes by Norman Cousins

Each patient carries his own doctor inside him.

The library is not a shrine for the worship of books. It is not a temple where literary incense must be burned or where ones 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.— Cited in ALA Bulletin, Oct. 1954, p.475

A library is the delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life.

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.

Never deny a diagnosis but do deny the negative verdict that may go with it.

Death is not the enemy living in constant fear of it is.

The most costly disease is not cancer or coronaries. The most costly disease is boredom - costly for both individual and society.

Capitalism in the United States has undergone profound modification not just under the New Deal but through a consensus that continued to grow after the New Deal. Government in the U.S. today is a senior partner in every business in the country.

Life is an adventure in forgiveness.

The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull in the direction of hope. That is why the patients hopes are the physicians secret weapon. They are the hidden ingredients in any prescription.

It has always seemed to me that hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.

The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter his loneliness.

Dont defy the diagnosis try to defy the verdict.

Nothing is more essential in the treatment of serious disease than the liberation of the patient from panic and forboding.

It is nonsense to say there is not enough time to be fully informed. ... Time given to thought is the greatest timesaver of all.

War is an invention of the human mind. The human mind can invent peace.

The essence of man is imperfection.

To talk about the need for perfection in man is to talk about the need for another species.

Since the human body tends to move in the direction of its expectations-plus or minus-it is important to know that attitudes of confidence and determination are no less a part of the treatment program than medical science and technology.

A human being fashions his consequences as surely as he fashions his goods or his dwelling. Nothing that he says thinks or does is without consequences.