A Quote by Diane Ackerman

Mystery causes a mental itch, which the brain tries to soothe with the balm of reasonable talk.

Diane Ackerman

Quote Topics

Balm Brain Causes Itch Mental Mystery Reasonable Soothe Talk Tries Which

Quote Author

Diane Ackerman
American - Poet
Born: October 7, 1948

We will move from looking at correlations between brain activity and behaviour to studying how the brain causes mental states and behaviour.

John O'Keefe

Nervous exhaustion from mental overwork is most often due to neglect of this rule and the brain worker should limit his regular day's work to a reasonable number of hours per day and those when the brain is at its best.

Maurice Bigelow

The mental capacity of a person to make reasonable contracts, is the only criterion, by which to determine his legal capacity to make obligatory contracts. And his mental capacity to make reasonable contracts is certainly not to be determined by the fact that he is, or is not, twenty-one years of age.

Lysander Spooner

As long as our brain is a mystery, the universe, the reflection of the structure of the brain will also be a mystery.

Santiago Ramon y Cajal

I was interested in the nature of human mental processes, which is what got me interested in psychoanalysis. And it became clear to me after a while that mental processes come from the brain, and in order to understand them, you need to be a biologist of the brain.

Eric Kandel

Philosophy, art, and science are not the mental objects of an objectified brain but the three aspects under which the brain becomes subject.

Gilles Deleuze

As governor, I will work to reform the practice of solitary confinement, which studies and medical and psychological associations say causes negative mental health effects on children, pregnant women and people living with mental illness.

Michelle Lujan Grisham

The dogma of the Ghost in the Machine ... maintains that there exist both bodies and minds; that there occur physical processes and mental processes; that there are mechanical causes of corporeal movements and mental causes of corporeal movements.

Gilbert Ryle

Brain studies of mental workouts in which you sustain a single, chosen focus show that the more you detach from what's distracting you and refocus on what you should be paying attention to, the stronger this brain circuitry becomes.

Daniel Goleman

Most psychiatrists assume that mental illnesses such as depression are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, which can be treated by drugs. But most psychotherapy doesn't address the social causation of mental illness either.

Mark Fisher

Obama seems like he tries to talk everyone into what he believes - and that's part of why we elected him, because he's a calm, reasonable guy - but behind that, there has to be some fight. You have to be able to take a few punches and throw a few punches.

Dee Dee Myers

People say that if you talk too much about sex, you take away the mystery. I say, if you're somebody who likes to talk, talk all you want - it's not listening. You will never take away the mystery.

Mary Gaitskill

I see artists as the first responders. And when the proverbial crap hits the fan, we are there to be of service, to tell the story, to bring a balm, to soothe, to provide catharsis. You know, not to make our work any more important or less important, but just that there is a great importance to it.

Elizabeth Marvel

When I talk to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and other patient support groups, I take questions at the end. At one talk I was asked, "What's the difference between yourself and someone without mental illness?". At another talk I was asked, "How do you make the voices be not so mean?". I wish I knew.

Mark Vonnegut

The religious man, the mystic, tries to explore the mystery of death. In exploring the mystery of death, he inevitably comes to know what life is, what love is. Those are not his goals. His goal is to penetrate death, because there seems to be nothing more mysterious than death. Love has some mystery because of death, and life also has some mystery because of death.