Some of us, for better or worse, develop very stable, consistent, and largely predictable machineries of self. But in others, the self machinery is more flexible and more open to unexpected turns.

We are not thinking machines that feel; rather, we are feeling machines that think.

More may have been learned about the brain and the mind in the 1990s - the so-called decade of the brain - than during the entire previous history of psychology and neuroscience.

A conscious mind is a mind with a self in it.

There is no such thing as a disembodied mind. The mind is implanted in the brain, and the brain is implanted in the body.

I continue to be fascinated by the fact that feelings are not just the shady side of reason but that they help us to reach decisions as well.

Emotions are enmeshed in the neural networks of reason.

The self is a perpetually recreated neurobiological state.

Consciousness begins when brains acquire the power, the simple power I must add, of telling a story.

The problem that we, as living organisms, face - and not we only, humans, but any living organism faces - is the management of life.

Rather than being a luxury, emotions are a very intelligent way of driving an organism toward certain outcomes.

The Bible appears to be the most revered book never read.

In the field of sports you are more or less accepted for what you do rather than what you are.

There's only one thing to do with politics, and that is to survive it.

I think we live in a period of profound transformation. Very similar to when we had a transition from agricultural societies to industrial societies.

I found that part of it towards San Salvador extending from north to south five leagues, and the other side which we coasted along, ran from east to west more than ten leagues.

The less one remembers about the day before, the more the new day will be unfettered by triviality.

There are many different ways of being funny. I'm not sure that there's so many different ways of being dramatic.

I'm bald, blind and pale. I'm like a gigantic recessive gene.

Advice for young people who want to channel their personality into creative work - be authentic.

I still buy nice pieces but, at the moment, they're presents for other people, so I only collect vicariously.