First thing about being a patient-you have to learn patience. Oliver Sacks More Quotes by Oliver Sacks More Quotes From Oliver Sacks I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders -- Parkinson's and Alzheimer's -- because of its unique capacity to organize or reorganize cerebral function when it has been damaged. Oliver Sacks alzheimerstoolsunique To be ourselves we must have ourselves – possess, if need be re-possess, our life-stories. We must “recollect” ourselves, recollect the inner drama, the narrative, of ourselves. A man needs such a narrative, a continuous inner narrative, to maintain his identity, his self. Oliver Sacks selfdramamen There is no one part of the brain which recognizes or responds emotionally to music. Instead, there are many different parts responding to different aspects of music: to pitch, to frequency, to timbre, to tonal intervals, to consonance, to dissonance, to rhythm, to melodic contour, to harmony. Oliver Sacks harmonydifferentbrain Music, uniquely among the arts, is both completely abstract and profoundly emotional. It has no power to represent anything particular or external, but it has a unique power to express inner states or feelings. Music can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation. Oliver Sacks emotionaluniqueart 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 languageeyeprinciples I am a man of vehement disposition, with violent enthusiasms, and extreme immoderation in all my passions. Oliver Sacks passionenthusiasmmen My own first love was biology. I spent a great part of my adolescence in the Natural History museum in London (and I still go to the Botanic Garden almost every day, and to the Zoo every Monday). The sense of diversity of the wonder of innumerable forms of life has always thrilled me beyond anything else. Oliver Sacks first-lovemondayzoos Thus the feeling I sometimes have - which all of us who work closely with aphasiacs have - that one cannot lie to an aphasiac. He cannot grasp your words, and cannot be deceived by them; but what he grasps he grasps with infallible precision, namely the expression that goes with the words, the total, spontaneous, involuntary expressiveness which can never be simulated or faked, as words alone can, too easily. Oliver Sacks expressionfeelingslying A disease is never a mere loss or excess. There is always a reaction on the part of the organism or individual to restore, replace or compensate for and to preserve its identity, however strange the means may be. Oliver Sacks identitylossmean Creativity involves the depth of a mind, and many, many depths of unconsciousness. Oliver Sacks creativitydepthmind Biologically, physiologically, we are not so different from each other; historically, as narratives - we are each of us unique. Oliver Sacks narrativedifferentunique And I often dream of chemistry at night, dreams that conflate the past and the present, the grid of the periodic table transformed to the grid of Manhattan. Sometimes, too, I dream of the indecipherable language of tin (a confused memory, perhaps, of its plaintive "cry"). But my favorite dream is of going to the opera (I am Hafnium), sharing a box at the Met with the other heavy transition metals my old and valued friends Tantalum, Rhenium, Osmium, Iridium, Platinum, Gold, and Tungsten. Oliver Sacks confuseddreammemories There is only one cardinal rule: One must always listen to the patient. Oliver Sacks physiciansmedicinescience I am now face to face with dying. But I am not finished with living. Oliver Sacks finisheddyingfaces It is up to me now to choose how to live out the months that remain to me. Oliver Sacks months Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. Oliver Sacks orange-juiceinspirational-musicmoving In terms of brain development, musical performance is every bit as important educationally as reading or writing. Oliver Sacks musicalreadingwriting I have to live in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can Oliver Sacks productivei-canway One might say that science itself, and civilization and art, are all about different orderings of the world - to contain it, and to make it in some sense intelligible, communicable. And bearable. Oliver Sacks differentcivilizationart I often feel that life is about to begin, only to realize it is almost over. Oliver Sacks almost-overrealizinglife-is
