Quotes from Norman Cousins

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

The possibility of war increases in direct proportion to the effectiveness of the instruments of war.

The only security for the American people today, or for any people, is to be found through the control of force rather than the use of force.

Don't defy the diagnosis, try to defy the verdict.

Laughter may or may not activate the endorphins or enhance respiration, as some medical researchers contend. What seems clear, however, is that laughter is an antidote to apprehension and panic.

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.

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.

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.

The tragedy of life is not death but what we let die inside of us while we live.

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.

The control center of your life is your attitude.

A casual attitude toward human hurt and pain is the surest sign of educational failure.

He who keeps his cool best wins.

Unobstructed access to facts can produce unlimited good only if it is matched by the desire and ability to find out what they mean and where they lead.

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.