Quotes from Norman Cousins

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.

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

The capacity for hope is the most significant fact of life. It provides human beings with a sense of destination and the energy to get started.

Illness is always an interaction between [mind and body]. It can begin in the mind and affect the body, or it can begin in the body and affect the mind, both of which are served by the same bloodstream. Attempts to treat most mental diseases as though they were completely free of physical causes and attempts to treat most bodily diseases as though the mind were in no way involved must be considered archaic in the light of new evidence about the way the human body functions.

Not every illness can be overcome. But many people allow illness to disfigure their lives more than it should. They cave in needlessly. They ignore and weaken whatever powers they have for standing erect. There is always a margin within which life can be lived with meaning and even with a certain measure of joy, despite illness.

The individual is capable of both great compassion and great indifference. He has it withing his means to nourish the former and outgrow the latter.

Belief becomes biology.