Logo - Feel The Words

Brain Quotes

Quotes on the mind, cognition, and neuroscience.

Several quotes here compare human and animal brain development, while others get technical about how scientists actually study brain tissue and electrical activity. For a narrower angle, see Brain Power.

I read anything and everything. Comfort food for my brain is fantasy fiction or science fiction.

Quotes by Sonali Bendre

Everything in New York seems to merit preserving. If it's not historical, it's personal. If it's not personal, it's cultural. But you can't. You can't save everything. You just have to pack it up in your brain and take it...

Quotes by Sloane Crosley

Sadly, you can't just pretend that you haven't seen the creepy things that people have said about you. It's something that gets in your brain.

Quotes by Soccer Mommy

Many scholars working in the humanities have already shown interest in brain research. For years, contemporary theory in the humanities has left the body and biology out of their discussions.

Quotes by Siri Hustvedt

I have not been diagnosed with epilepsy. I did have an MRI of the brain, and they found no abnormalities in my brain. Now, there are people with epilepsy who have completely normal MRI's, too. I just think also, you...

Quotes by Siri Hustvedt

It's thought that about 96% of us have visual imagery, and there's a very tiny minority in the population, some of whom are normal, some of whom have brain lesions, who cannot produce visual imagery.

Quotes by Siri Hustvedt

Both depression and anxiety disorders, for example, are repeatedly described in the media as 'chemical imbalances in the brain,' as if spontaneous neural events with no relation to anything outside a person's brain cause depression and anxiety.

Quotes by Siri Hustvedt

Neurobiological research has shown that in people with chronic PTSD, both stress hormone secretion and areas of the brain connected to memory function, such as the hippocampus, appear to be affected, although exactly how and why remains controversial.

Quotes by Siri Hustvedt

All human states are organic brain states - happiness, sadness, fear, lust, dreaming, doing math problems and writing novels - and our brains are not static.

Quotes by Siri Hustvedt

We live in a culture that is much happier talking about organic brain disease than about psychic illness because the former suggests that something that is physically wrong in a brain is wholly unrelated to that person's upbringing or experiences...

Quotes by Siri Hustvedt

The brain is an immensely complex organ, and many mysteries remain. Exactly how brain and mind or soma and psyche are related is one of them.

Quotes by Siri Hustvedt

I wanted to be the first girl in my class to get married. From the seventh grade on, I used to write in my yearbook under each senior's picture, 'married' or 'engaged.' I had marriage on the brain.

Quotes by Shirley Temple

When I'm doing theatre, I feel like my life's on hold. Even though you might go out for a coffee, or go and see a film, your brain is still there, pulling you back to it.

Quotes by Shirley Henderson

Where the despair of loneliness and poverty haunts every hour, the optimism to embark on new projects cannot find a place to alight on the brain's cortex. Poverty itself is an enormous obstacle to an enlightened and enlightening - not...

Quotes by Sherwin B. Nuland

You have to train your brain to be positive just like you work out your body.

Quotes by Shawn Achor

Scientifically, happiness is a choice. It is a choice about where your single processor brain will devote its finite resources as you process the world.

Quotes by Shawn Achor

When people exercise, we talk about endorphins, but endorphins are just short-term. The reason why exercise is valuable is it trains your brain to believe, 'My behavior matters,' which is optimism.

Quotes by Shawn Achor

For me, meditation's hard because I feel like I have developed 'cultural attention-deficit disorder,' where, because we have so much stimulation, I feel like I have trouble focusing on things for very long. So when I try to meditate, my...

Quotes by Shawn Achor

The greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy is a positive and engaged brain.

Quotes by Shawn Achor

To be truly engaged at work, your brain needs periodic breaks to gain fresh perspective and energy.

Quotes by Shawn Achor

Frequently Asked Questions

What do these quotes say about human brain development?
One quote compares human and chimp brain development, noting that at age three a human's brain is "still-growing," while a chimp's brain by the same age is "formed over 90 percent" — which the quote suggests helps explain why chimps cope with their environment more easily early on.
Is there a quote questioning where thoughts come from?
Yes, one quote poses a playful analogy, asking whether believing "your thoughts originate inside your brain" means you'd also believe "television shows are made inside your television set." It's a way of questioning simplistic ideas about how the brain produces thought.
Do any quotes get into the science of studying the brain?
Yes, a couple of quotes reflect on the technical side of brain research. One notes that real understanding of "the deep sections of the brain" comes only from working through it "histologically in serial section." Another points out researchers don't see directly where electrodes are working, comparing it to "the exploration of the surface of the brain."
Are these quotes more scientific or everyday in tone?
This page mixes both — some read like plain everyday observations about how we think, while others come from a more clinical, research-minded perspective on brain anatomy and function. If you like the more energetic side of brain-related quotes, check out our Brain Power collection.
What other brain-themed collections are available?
You can also browse Brain Cells quotes, Brain Damage quotes, and Brains quotes for more angles on the topic.

If a quote here raises questions about cognitive decline, Brain Damage covers that territory, and Brains offers a lighter-hearted companion set.