A learned parson, rusting in his cell at Oxford or Cambridge, will reason admirably well on the nature of man; will profoundly ana...lyse the head, the heart, the reason, the will, the passions, the sentiments, and all those subdivisions of we know not what; and yet, unfortunately, he knows nothing of man.... He views man as he does colours in Sir Isaac Newton's prism, where only the capital ones are seen; but an experienced dyer knows all their various shades and gradations, together with the result of their several mixtures.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Despite many assertions to the contrary, the brain is not "like a computer." Yes, the brain has many electrical connections, just ...like a computer. But at each point in a computer only a binary decision can be made--yes or no, on or off, 0 or 1. Each point in the brain, each brain cell, contains all the genetic information necessary to reproduce the entire organism. A brain cell is not a switch. It has a memory; it can be subtle. Each brain cell is like a computer. The brain is like a hundred billion computers all connected together. It is impossible to understand because it is too complex. As Emerson Pugh wrote, "If the human brain was so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Among the many gifts I showered on Martin, I was careful not to include talent. How easy it would have been to make him an artist,... a writer; how hard not to let him be one, while bestowing on him the keen sensitivity that one generally associates with the creative creature; how cruel to prevent him from finding in art--not an "escape" (which is only a cleaner cell on a quieter floor), but relief from the itch of being.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
To believe in something not yet proved and to underwrite it with our lives: it is the only way we can leave the future open. Man, ...surrounded by facts, permitting himself no surmise, no intuitive flash, no great hypothesis, no risk, is in a locked cell. Ignorance cannot seal the mind and imagination more surely.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It was a time when only the dead smiled, happy in their peace.... ... Stars of Death stood over us, and innocent Russia squirmed under the bloody boots, under the wheels of black Marias.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou lo...ve her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn, Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,... Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn, But only one mother the wide world over.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If I could only live at the pitch that is near madness When everything is as it was in my childhood... Violent, vivid, and of infinite possibility: That the sun and the moon broke over my head.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »