He who keeps his cool best wins.

— Norman Cousins

History is a vast early warning system.

— Norman Cousins

Hope is independent of the apparatus of logic.

— Norman Cousins

If ignorance about the nature of pain is widespread, ignorance about the way pain-killing drugs is even more so. What is not generally understood is that many of the vaunted pain-killing drugs conceal the pain without correcting the underlying condition. They deaden the mechanism in the body that alerts the brain to the fact that something may be wrong. The body can pay a high price for suppression of pain without regard to its basic cause.

— Norman Cousins

Illness is always an interaction between [mind and body]. It can begin in the mind and affect the body, or it can begin in the body and affect the mind, both of which are served by the same bloodstream. Attempts to treat most mental diseases as though they were completely free of physical causes and attempts to treat most bodily diseases as though the mind was in no way involved must be considered archaic in the light of new evidence about the way the human body functions.

— Norman Cousins

It has always seemed to me that hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.

— Norman Cousins

It is nonsense to say there is not enough time to be fully informed. ... Time given to thought is the greatest time saver of all.

— Norman Cousins

It is reasonable to expect the doctor to recognize that science may not have all the answers to problems of health and healing.

— Norman Cousins

It makes little difference how many university courses or degrees a person may own. If he cannot use words to move an idea from one point to another, his education is incomplete.

— Norman Cousins

Life is an adventure in forgiveness

— Norman Cousins