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

Norman Cousins

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Norman Cousins
Age: 75 †
Born: 1915
Born: June 24
Died: 1990
Died: November 30
Journalist
Literary Critic
Peace Activist
Professor
Writer
Union City
New Jersey
Species
Talk
Another
Need
Needs
Men
Perfection

More quotes by Norman Cousins

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Silence must be comprehended as not solely the absence of sound. It is the natural environment for serenity and contemplation. Life without silence is life without privacy. The difference between sanity and madness is the quality of our thoughts. Silence is on the side of sanity.
Norman Cousins
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Although a man may have no jurisdiction over the fact of his existence, he can hold supreme command over the meaning of existence for him.
Norman Cousins
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The greatest force in the human body is the natural drive of the body to heal itself - but that force in not independent of the belief system. Everything begins with belief. What we believe is the most powerful option of all.
Norman Cousins
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The heart of the matter is that some people like to cause injury or death to living things. And many of those who do not are indifferent to those who do.
Norman Cousins
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In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility.
Norman Cousins
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History is a vast early warning system.
Norman Cousins
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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.
Norman Cousins
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The poet reminds men of their uniqueness and it is not necessary to possess the ultimate definition of this uniqueness. Even to speculate is a gain.
Norman Cousins
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Nothing is more essential in the treatment of serious disease than the liberation of the patient from panic and foreboding.
Norman Cousins
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All this sensory input, which begins in the brain, has its effect throughout the body.
Norman Cousins
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Don't defy the diagnosis, try to defy the verdict.
Norman Cousins
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We will not have peace by afterthought.
Norman Cousins
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My reason nourishes my faith and my faith my reason.
Norman Cousins
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The possibility of war increases in direct proportion to the effectiveness of the instruments of war.
Norman Cousins
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We are wide-eyed in contemplating the possibility that life may exist elsewhere in the universe, but we wear blinders when contemplating the possibilities of life on earth.
Norman Cousins
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We have everything we need, in fact, except the most important thing of all — time to think and the habit of thought.
Norman Cousins
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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.
Norman Cousins
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Pessimism is a waste of time.
Norman Cousins
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I cannot affirm God if I fail to affirm man. Therefore, I affirm both. Without a belief in human unity I am hungry and incomplete. Human unity is the fulfillment of diversity. It is the harmony of opposites. It is a many-stranded texture, with color and depth.
Norman Cousins
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It is no longer correct to regard higher education solely as a privilege. It is a basic right in today's world.
Norman Cousins