We have everything we need, in fact, except the most important thing of all — time to think and the habit of thought. Norman Cousins More Quotes by Norman Cousins More Quotes From Norman Cousins 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 senior government country To talk about the need for perfection in man is to talk about the need for another species. Norman Cousins perfection men needs The justification for those actions was that we were living in a very hard, predatory, cloak-and-dagger world and that the only way to deal with a totalitarian enemy was to intimidate him. The trouble with this theory was that while we live in a world of plot and counterplot, we also live in a world of cause and effect. Whatever the cause for the decision to legitimize and regularize deceit abroad, the inevitable effect was the practice of deceit at home. Norman Cousins decision practice home I have learned never to underestimate the capacity of the human mind and body to regenerate - even when prospects seem most wretched. The life force may be the least understood force on earth. Norman Cousins body earth mind Man is not imprisoned by habit. Great changes in him can be wrought by crisis - once that crisis can be recognized and understood. Norman Cousins change inspirational men The sense of paralysis proceeds not so much out of the mammoth size of the problem but out of the puniness of the purpose. Norman Cousins size problem purpose We will not have peace by afterthought. Norman Cousins afterthought literature peace Nixon's motto was, if two wrongs don't make a right, try three. Norman Cousins personality math two Pessimism is a waste of time. Norman Cousins pessimism wasting-time waste Words have to be crafted, not sprayed. They need to be fitted together with infinite care. Norman Cousins together writing needs The old emphasis upon superficial differences that separate peoples must give way to education for citizenship in the human community. Norman Cousins differences education giving The doctor knows that it is the prescription slip itself, even more than what is written on it, that is often the vital ingredient for enabling a patient to get rid of whatever is ailing him. Norman Cousins recovery doctors enabling 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 color opposites men Do you prefer that you be right or happy? Norman Cousins recycling happy-birthday forgiveness 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 quality reading book Infinity converts the possible into the inevitable. Norman Cousins statistics infinity education The life-force may be the least understood force on earth. Norman Cousins force earth may Governments are not built to perceive large truths. Only people can perceive great truths. Governments specialize in small and intermediate truths. They have to be instructed by their people in great truths. Norman Cousins perceive government people The main trouble with despair is that it is self-fulfilling. Norman Cousins despair trouble self 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 gains definitions men