Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.
Never deny a diagnosis but do deny the negative verdict that may go with it.
— Norman Cousins
Famous Quotes
War is an invention of the human mind. The human mind can invent peace with justice.
A library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas — a place where history comes to life.
— Norman Cousins
Education
What a man really says when he says that someone else can be persuaded by force, is that he himself is incapable of more rational means of communication.
— Norman Cousins
Leadership
What was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that men set foot on the moon but that they set eye on the earth.
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.
Hope, faith, love and a strong will to live offer no promise of immortality, only proof of our uniqueness ans human beings and the opportunity to experience full growth even under the grimmest circumstances. Far more real than the ticking of time is the way we open up the minutes and invest them with meaning. Death is not the ultimate tragedy in life. The ultimate tragedy is to die without discovering the possibilities of full growth.
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within us while we live.