“Every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.”
― Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)
“If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it.”
― Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)
“We speak not only to tell other people what we think, but to tell ourselves what we think. Speech is a part of thought.”
― Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)
“In examining disease, we gain wisdom about anatomy and physiology and biology. In examining the person with disease, we gain wisdom about life.”
― Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)
“Language, that most human invention, can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes.”
― Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)
“At 11, I could say ‘I am sodium’ (Element 11), and now at 79, I am gold.”
― Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)
“Music evokes emotion and emotion can bring it's memory.”
― Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)
“It really is a very odd business that all of us, to varying degrees, have music in our heads.”
― Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)
“The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic.”
― Oliver Sacks (1933-2015)