Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does-humans are a musical species.
Oliver SacksWhen I was five, I am told, and asked what my favorite things in the world were, I answered, smoked salmon and Bach.
Oliver SacksThere is among doctors, in acute hospitals at least, a presumption of stupidity in their patients.
Oliver SacksAbove all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.
Oliver SacksI think hallucinations need to be discussed. There are all sorts of hallucinations, and then many sorts which are okay, like the ones I think which most of us have in bed at night before we fall asleep, when we can see all sorts of patterns or faces and scenes.
Oliver Sacks